Front Wiper Problem

[mschumacker]

I'm having a problem with my front wipers. I have a 95 Explorer with 172K, and the original stock wiper arms.

There is a LOT of play of my wiper arms. I can move the tip of each of the front wipers about 3 inches without the cowel moving. I noticed that the cowel has vertical threads that I would guess would make the connection with the wiper arms nice and snug and without play.

Has anyone had their wiper arms just get loose like this? I haven't read anything anywhere on this. I've found new arms for about $22 a piece online, but just wanted to make sure that I'm thinking correctly and this would most likely fix my problem.

Any thoughts?

 

[mschumacker]

Anybody?

 

[budwich]

On my 96, I would say that I can move the right side (passenger) about 1/2 before I notice some movement on the left side. You should be able to feel which wiper shaft is not "gripping" and take it from there to determine why. It is unlikely that both wiper shaft sleeves are stripped. Replacing the wiper arms may not solve your problem if the shafts are the part that are stripped. Take each one and analyze the grooves on the "male" and "female" portions for stripped / broken portions.