Driver side wiper arm broken off!!! Phaeton 2015

[swtbirds2]

We are on a trip with no driver side wiper arm! Safety issue!!!

the teeth on the female side of the arm have worn away and will not "bite" onto the wiper arm pivot assembly. therefore will not move.

This is the second time this has happened to the driver side wiper arm and pivot assembly. I had the entire assembly replaced 2.5 years ago.

Does anyone know if I can move the passenger side wiper arm to the DS to at least til we get a replacement from tiffin?
Thanks!
Joan Connell

[Pigman1]

As long as the pax side arm is generally the same shape, you should be able to move it. I don't know how your arms are fastened to the wiper shaft, but on my former 2008 Bus mine were held on by a hex nut screwed directly onto the wiper shaft. I had a driver arm on the 08 Bus round out inside in a terrible rain storm in Florida. I ended up putting a 6 point socket on that bolt and tightening it with as much torque as I could apply with a 3/8" ratchet. I 'm not a small guy and am a former farmer and heavy truck mechanic and had no choice. I thought that if I broke the bolt/shaft I'd have to swap the ww drive arm from the pax side to the driver side anyway, so while I got a new wiper arm, a new wiper shaft would not be that much more. Bottom line...After tightening that nut as tight as I could get it, the arm stuck in the correct position. I drove that Bus for additional 2 years without an additional problem. The arm white metal actually deformed into new striations and held fine for the 30,000 or so additional miles I ran before I traded the Bus.

[Props2]

Take a knife or small steel brush to clean the pot metal out of the wiper arm grooves. The wiper arm is actually a harder metal then the pivot post. Reinstall in a slightly different position and crank down the bolt. IIrc, the torque is around 60 to 70 ft lbs. I check mine periodically as I have had the same problem. The other thing I did was replace the wiper blade size to 36" from the stock 40" to take a little stress off the post. And yes, you could use the PS arm if you needed to swap.