Winter wipers

Having completed plowing in the recent blizzard, I'm looking for details on what needs to be done to replace those absolutely USELESS fairweather wiper blades on my 86 International. My local International dealer in Manchester suggests I need to replace not only the wiper arms, but other wiper components as well, as he rolled his eyes suggesting it wasn't worth it. Anybody else gone through with this or have any information to share? Thanks in advance....

I have to say, the title of the thread threw me off a bit. I'm not going to be as helpful as I first thought I might be.




Isn't there a direct replacement winter blade available at NAPA? You'd think a dealer in NH would have this figured out already.

If they are the J-hook type, Bosch (sp) makes a good blade. Hear Napa doesn't carry them but Advanced Auto does.

David

go to walmart or a parts store and buy rain ex fancy wipers, theyre like the bosch icon but come with a hand full of connectors for different wiper styles and dont freeze up like the bosch sometimes do. theyre like $20 each but last for 3 years.

I just use the cheapies at NAPA, but the trick is they don't wipe very good for very long. A little age and they are shot so I like to put new ones on just after winter starts.

Also I find that proper management of the defroster helps, when the going gets really tough I like to run the defroster on full defrost, on medium to high fan speed, full heat and regulate the cab inside temperature by how far I have the windows open. The full heat on the windshield helps keep the snow mobile so it melts some and the wiper blades can push it off. Yes it's hard on the eyes and throat but it beats not being able to see. Otherwise it starts to pile up on the bottom and sides and pretty soon the wipers are only running a 10° arc and you have to stop and broom it off.

Finally, I run the wipers on high unless it starts to chatter, it seems that the higher frequency seems to keep the snow shoved off better.

I've never tried elsewhere but I've been told this "Sierra cement" snow we get here is some of the stickiest and hardest to deal with. I got stuck in it yesterday and when I got back in my truck my hat had a couple inches that had fallen on my head, it was dumping so hard, and it went right down my neck as usual.

Anybody here ever tried those heated wipers? Just wonder how they work....

I see the post above for Rain-X wipers. Have you ever tried the Rain-X liquid? You can get by with almost no wiper action with that.

Well thanks everybody. Sorry for the delay in response, got sidetracked with another project....Replacing the windshield. Figured I needed to do that before worrying about what wipers to use. Now I got to go shopping for arms and blades.

I get snow bladeas at my local NAPA store, blades not in stock can be ordered in overnight. I looked into heated wipers, when I got to the price($140) I forgot about it.

Another thing you can do is block the cold weather intake to your heater,,, just recycle the cabin air. This eliminate's the moisture inside your cab from fine snow being sucked into the air intake to the heater core. The air going to the windshield is then dry and warmer than outside air.

This is why I don't understand snow like they get elsewhere. Around here the flakes are the size of a quarter and they stick where they land and do not move or blow under any circumstances. I run the heater on the outside air position whenever it is snowing because if I used recirculation it would be picking up all the water from my boots and gear that is usually running in bucketfuls across the floorboards. It sure must be different.

Birken Vogt said:

This is why I don't understand snow like they get elsewhere. Around here the flakes are the size of a quarter and they stick where they land and do not move or blow under any circumstances. I run the heater on the outside air position whenever it is snowing because if I used recirculation it would be picking up all the water from my boots and gear that is usually running in bucketfuls across the floorboards. It sure must be different.

Click to expand...

I think it must be a temperature thingy....lol. :beatsme