Windshield Wipers – Feb. ’18
You might wonder why I’d put this subject on my RV repair blog as wipers seem so simple. Well, you’re right, they are simple. It’s just that RV wipers now days are freakin’ expensive at nearly all the stores because of the simple fact that the stores only want to carry the entire wiper assembly. Not just a couple of inexpensive strips of silicon rubber. Exasperating when you are traveling and might be forced to pay $50 for the entire assembly, called a ‘Beam Wiper Blade’, when you could have used just the inserts for $10. Also maddening when you’ve been trying to be environmentally sensitive your whole life and balk at just tossing 1.5 pounds of metal assembly used for each windshield wiper assembly.
I knew that one of my wipers was tearing and wanted to get it fixed before I ran into any rain. So over the last couple months, as I shopped, I’d try to find some inserts at a reasonable price. Nope…every freakin’ store I checked has stopped carrying inserts and only carry the entire assembly because of the higher profit. There’s little profit in low cost items used to be environmentally sensitive. And a 24″ wiper cartridge is like $25 each at most of the stores I visited in person.
Went online to Amazon and typed in 24″ Wiper Blades and they’re showing the same stuff as all those automotive and big box stores I’d searched had. Hmm. Changed my search method and after some careful searching, soon found bags of 26″ silicone rubber wiper style molded inserts on Amazon and eBay. So got 2 new wiper blades. I can’t even remember what search I used to find those inserts, but find them I did.
[EDIT May ’19: Amazon now shows the wiper inserts at $8 EACH. They doubled in price in one year. Well whatever, so recently I searched and found a 2 pack of the same thing for $1.99 on eBay. Which shows what a rip off the Amazon package is. Only advantage is that they have stock if you need them right now. Here’s the link to the less expensive wipers…2 pcs Universal 26″ Wiper inserts. (Now in 2024 much more expensive, but still much much lower cost than buying an entire assembly). That is just one of the sources and if the link is still good, they have USA stock. I know over, less expensive replacements come from China or overseas somewhere and it’ll take weeks so if ordering them, send them on to where you may be traveling.]
One thing I learned by my search was that many of the blades were designated in mm. I assumed for width. So I went out and measured my old one and sure enough it was 6mm wide. Held in place by J hooks on the beam. The J hooks can be bent a bit either closer together or further apart if you buy the wrong width of rubber insert, but it’s probably best to measure first so you get the width you need to begin with. Mine are 6mm though, just like the style shown at the Amazon link. I guess 9mm is also a popular width for RVs, and even wider for large buses and semis. Not sure they make them thinner than 6 mm. The metal inserts are reclaimed from the old blade.
And here’s how the new inserts look installed. What I did was remove the old insert blade stiffeners and blades…carefully so I wouldn’t lose those stiffeners…and than matched up the length of the blades so I could cut off the excess. Carefully held the two metal stiffeners in place in the molded slots on the new blades, used Scotch tape to hold them both in place along the edges of the blades while I worked the end into the wipers J hooks. Removed the pieces of tape as I fed the insert into the holder. And soon, the ends of the stiffeners snapped into place. Another method is to insert the blade into the frame, then slip the metal stiffeners in.
Yea! New wipers for $10 and 15 minutes of work.
Note: I found that Family Dollar stores carry some automotive wipers that fit my Saturn. And only $5 each if I need them quickly. Which I did recently at an RV park where the trees dripped and glued the wipers to the window. When I tried to operate them, they tore and since it was raining, needed them right then.
Note2: I’ve found that the wiper bodies are easily adjusted to take a wide insert. I’m still using 6 mm but if I’m forced to use a wider blade, it wouldn’t be that difficult to modify the wiper frame to accept a wider blade.