cherokee wiper upgrade

[broncomatt]

Cherokee Wiper Arm swap

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This weekend I got my new wiper shaft gaskets, so I started putting the wipers back together. My original wiper arms were junk. They were cobbled together, missing parts, and held together with welding rod.
So I read up on how to perform the cherokee wiper upgrade, this is how.
I found some arms locally for 23.00 each, plus 5 bucks for new 14" blades. So I gathered these parts up and worked them over as spelled out in other articles.

Parts list:
2 new 1988 Cherokee REAR wiper arms. I got mine from Autozone but everyone has them.
2 new 14" wiper blades. The stock ones were 12" but there is plenty of room for 14" blades.

I pulled the washer fluid squirter hose off and tossed it. Then I installed the new blade on the new arm and held it up to the glass and mocked it up where I expect it to run. Basically this means it's centered on the glass. Since the Cherokee arm is too long and will need shortened, I measured from the wiper pivot to the socket on the wiper arm, and determined that I would need to remove 4 1/2" in length. This length will vary depending on the length of wiper blade you use.
I drilled out the rivet and shortened the arm by 4 1/2" each. I redrilled the holes, and re-riveted the arm back together using a 1/8" stainless steel rivet with a backing washer.
Then I reinstalled the springs, assembled everything, and timed it on the windshield.
Picture 1 shows how the Cherokee arm is much longer than stock.
Picture 2 shows the rivet that will need to be drilled out.
Picture 3 shows the rivet after being drilled and punched out.
Picture 4 shows the arms after being reassembled, along with the excess arm that I cut off.
Picture 5 shows the arms installed on the Bronco.

[SC74]

This is on my to-do list on the crawler. Thanks for the info and pics. I'll let you know how mine goes very soon.

[broncosbybart]

Good info. I'm going to do this soon as well!!

[SC74]

Do you need any EB parts to make the fit/stay on the splined stub sticking out of the windshield frame? On the crawler all I have are the two stubs sticking out. What locks the new arm onto the stub? I remember my stock ones were a PITA to remove - isn't there some clip of some sort?

[broncomatt]

They work the same as the stock ones do. You need to lift the arm away from the windshield, this releases the clip(that is atached to the big spring). There the same spline and diamiter so they work the same as the OE ones do. Just need to be shortened to fit and they use a much better (and larger) blade.
To remove the stock ones I will wrap a large wrench with tape and use it too pry the arm off if its realy stuck or rusty.

[BucknEB]

I did this upgrade a while back. The stronger springs and longer blades make a great cheap upgrade. Nice write up Matt!

[SC74]

Just bought all the parts and plan on doing this over the weekend.