Ok this seems completely rudamentary, but I am having windshield wiper problems, and they arent too numerous, but when I cant see in the rain I dont feel good.

1st: my 73 swinger the arms just stopped moving one day. Why would this happen? I can still hear the motor turning, but the arms on the windshield dont budge.

2nd: The arms on my cars are crap. I cant find replacement blades and the ones I did buy and cut to fit keep coming off when the arms were working and scratching my windshield. Are there aftermarket wiper arms and blades I can use that will bolt on, and work better? What the heck, it is annoying.

Can't help you w/ #2 w/o some research, but #1 is usually symptomatic of the linkage bushings degrading and falling out. It's an issue that's been addressed on here lately, but I don't remember the exact thread.

You can get the wiper bushings from Napa. You will have to pull the instrument panel and the glovebox out to get to them. Your car will require 4 of them and the one on the wiper motor is a real pain to get to. Be patient. Fill the bushings up with lithium grease or graphit before you install them. A set of visegrips used carefully helps to press the bushings on to the linkage parts.

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82 D150-225/727
02 Dakota-3.9/5 speed
87 GMC C7000-8.2 Detroit Diesel/5+2

I'm not sure if my 71 duster has a different setup - but I've used 16" anco refills, and also 16" trico arms w/teflon blades as well w/o any issues.

if it is the wiper bushings, you can get them from http://engine-swaps.com/

to get the bushings on there, i slid them on a copper pipe, and used several adapters that got bigger and bigger, until they finally reached the same diameter as the wiper and i could slide them on easliy...

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70 Plymouth Valiant 4dr

You can also get them from your local dealer.

It is quite likely that the plastic gear inside the wiper motor itself stripped or broke. It isn't hard to remove the motor and test it; you need to make sure it has a good ground when you do that (there is usually a 3/4" wide brass strip for that purpose that sometimes corrodes away).

The motor should have enough torque that you can't stop the bare shaft with your fingers - if you can stop it, but the motor keeps humming, it is broken inside. It is difficult to repair them, but there's lots of interchange. Note that the parking position can sometimes be adjusted for different models and that different models used different arms on the motor. Good Luck.

all of you have been very helpful. I will pull the instrument cluster and glove box first to inspect. I think it would be a good time to replace the seals for the arms so prevent anymore rain water in my car.

inspect to ensure bushings are good

make sure arms are connected under the dash

if not, pull the motor out and test it.

Thanks for the info guys I will keep you posted.

Caesar