windshield wiper towers

[Gary]

Anyone had any success freeing up frozen wiper pivots? They look good from the outside, just can't get them to spin.

[Rich G.]

I'd take the assembly out and put the end in a can of WD 40 or something like that.

[Gary]

I did try soaking them in rust remover for a week or so, didn't do a thing.  So I heated them up a little with the torch, it didn't take much. But I got them to spin a little.  I then drilled a 1/4 inch hole in the housing below where the cowl would hide it.  Sprayed carb cleaner in and spun them until they spin like new.  Will fill the hole with some type of sealer, although it's probably not a big deal because you'll never see it. Detail them up and they will work like new.

[1 Wild R/T]

The normal repair at that point is to screw a grease zerk into the hole & give it a couple pumps...

[A.Gramz]

I haven't worked on freeing up a e body set but on highway tractors and heavy equipment I slowly heat them up and work them till they start to move then lay the lube to them.   If there is plastic in there u can't heat them

[Burdar]

On my Dart, I took the assemblies completely apart, cleaned them and reassembled.  There is a lot of crap down in there.  A grease zerk is a good idea but I'd disassemble and clean everything first.

[Dakota]

Hmmn.... didn't know those came apart.   Something else to disassemble!  Cool.

[Burdar]

The end of the pivot shaft protrudes out the top of the upper toothed piece that the wiper arm attaches to.  The end of the pivot shaft is mashed over to hold the upper toothed piece on.  You have to grind off that mashed part in order to remove the upper piece.  Then you can remove the retainer and pull the shaft from the outer housing.  To reinstall, you need to grind/machine the top of the upper toothed piece and make it a little thinner.(1/16" is fine)  Then the end of the pivot shaft will then protrude out the top again.  Finally, you can mash the end to hold the assembly together.  It's pretty easy to do. 

To mash the end of the pivot shaft, I used a short Phillips head bit. I put the + of the bit against the shaft and compressed it in a vise.  I turned the bit 45 degrees and did it again.  The metal is soft and the + does a good job of mashing over the metal.