vetteman42

Well I went out today to polish my windshield and lifted up my driver's side wiper and the wiper arm tension spring came flying off. Found the spring and small tab that hooks over a pin at base of wiper arm. Now I'm not the strongest man nor the weakest, but I'm here to tell ya that that spring is tough! Tried to use an awl to lever into the pin, but no luck!

Frankly my hands are sore now and will go back on Sunday to retry. Have searched the forum and found others with the same issue, but not an real specific solution. I was thinking of pulling on the spring slightly to reduce tension??

Any suggestions, would certainly be welcomed!!

SAVE THE WAVE

pkazsr

I'm not sure how the spring clips on but whenever I install tight springs I reach for my needle-nose vise grips.

vetteman42

Just figured out how to reinstall wiper arm spring. See TECH TIP posted today on this forum. Not suggesting that my tip is the only way to reinstall, but it works!

SAVE THE WAVE!

Redeasysport

Sounds like time for new arms to me. The spring should not come off.

vetteman42

I should not have lifted the wipers away from the windshield as they are not designed like the newer cars. As I got to about a 30 degree angle the spring and tab flew off.

Do you think the tab/spring are now stressed and might come off again when installing back on vette and/or when using wipers??? If so I agree, given possible damage new arms/wipers would be wise. Please advise..thanks

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Redeasysport

If you have not replaced them and had the car since 2000 it may very well be time to replace the arm(s). I have lifted mine on 2 cars and never had this issue.How well did they work before this? Any bouncing or is there any play at the joint left/right? Do they park tight? Both of my cars had 1 or more of these issues and new arms fixed them.Of course both of them had windshield scratches because previous owners were not as concerned about having good wipers or damaging the windshield.

vetteman42

None of the wiper issues you mentioned existed prior to the "spring" incident. And they are the original arms, but the point you raised in both your replies, it's best to get new ones. I'm going to order the '96 arms and wipers as suggested in the Tech Tip under "Wiper Arms" under C 4 section. They appear to be improved, just got some internet prices and the arms are about $6 each more and wipers are about $2 more each. I'm going to call my local dealer too.

Thanks again for your comments and guidance!

SAVE THE WAVE

kcento

Has anyone been able to put the spring back? Is there a special tool to do so? i have not been able to expand teh spring long enough to put back where it belongs. Any suggestion would be much appreciated.
I have a 91 vette and its the original wiper arm for the right side.

scully81152

my 2008 c6 passenger wiper has not enough pressure. Is it the spring?and where to get it.

joes.c4

I tried pulling up my wiper arm on my c4 and the spring shot across my garage. does anyone know how to put it back on? I tried but its a very tight spring. I might just have to buy a less violent spring on amazon because I couldn't stretch it.

vetteman42

Post your email address and will forward tip on how to reinstall spring.

I can not private message you as you are a new member.

85corvettejeff

this happened to me no realizing that you CANT pull the arm all the way up , it breaks the tab that the spring attaches too , you have to pull them up until you feel resistance then there is a clip at the bottom of the arm that you have to pry out and the whole comes off , once that spring comes flying off the arm is done cant fix it