Wiper arms interchangeability

[porschpow]

For a 97 townie, do you guys know if the wiper arms are interchangeable btw the driver and passenger side? The hood keeps the driver side arms from going up and down

[FordMan77]

IIRC, the drivers side arm is a bit shorter than the pass side. Other than that it should have the same spline/nut attachment as the other.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

You can swap them, but in my experience I wouldn't recommend it.

For the hood to stop the arm from getting past it, is your arm bent out of shape?

[porschpow]

It's not really stopping it per se, when I turn the switch on, the wiper arm hangs up on the hood (the inside part) for a half a second before its forced to come out and do it's job

[Kodachrome Wolf]

The arm shouldn't catch on the hood. You may need to adjust the arm some so that it doesn't do that. I've had pressure issues on my '97 where the blade would like to lift at speed, and on top of putting on a new arm, I needed to bend it slightly. Too much bend in the arm and it catches the hood.

[sly]

+1 the arms are different even though they use the same mount. You may just need to bend the arm a little for clearance.

[porschpow]

gotcha, I guess don't bend it too much cause it will hinder wiper performance

[sly]

pretty much. Find out where the arm is hitting... and then bend from equal points away from that spot to help bring it down and just enough to clear.

[knucklehead0202]

Some wiper blades fuck it up too. Bought some fancy ones for one of the cars and they'd stick. Got some cheap shit ones and they worked great!

[GM_Guy]

Yeah, most aftermarket universal fit blades suck for clearance. Bosch Beams or 'Exact Fit' blades usually have no problems.

Alex.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Since I've had pressure problems with my wipers, I typically have avoided beam blades on the '97. The only ones that play nice are Trico NeoForms for some reason. If I don't have NeoForms, I'll run a mid-grade conventional blade.

[GM_Guy]

Try a couple icon xxB blades. A, B depending on car listing, you will see it listed as drivers side, passeger side. The B blade has more curve, and I'll assume puts more pressure onto the windsheild if you put it on the drivers side. The 2008 takes a 22A and a 22B. I've had zero issues with them.

Alex.

[porschpow]

thanks guys, I bent it back and used it however, if you bend it back the other way, you lose pressure (ie it misses a spot when it wipes)

Long story short, it's great now!