Windshield Wipers

Those little windshield wipers sure are expensive! What can I do instead?

My 1949 uses 1954/55 1st style wiper blades. I got tired of paying $8.95 per blade, especially since I HATE wipers that streak, so I tend to replace my blades pretty often. Sooooo…..I started looking for alternatives, and finally found a solution.

If you have this style, consider buying a set of wiper refills made by Anco (fairly common brand). Buy the 22 inch (narrow refills). This will give you enough material to restock your blade with new rubber, 4 times over.

Simply take the rubber (of the new wipers) out of the plastic that holds it (leaving you with JUST rubber), then take the rubber out of the wiper blade housing of the trucks wiper. There should be a clip at each end of the blade that is removed by pushing it in toward the center, then gently lifting up on the extreme edge. It should be pretty clear once you look at the blade.

Then slide the old blade out (along with the metal frame that surrounds the rubber). Again, it will be pretty clear once you try it. Remove the metal frame. Now, measure the old rubber against the new rubber, and cut the new rubber with a sharp knife/razor blade to the same size as the original rubber. Then, put the metal housing (frame) back around the new rubber, then reinsert it into the old wiper blade housing, then reinsert the two end clips, then reattach all to the wiper arm, and voila, you are done.

The $9 blades are now costing you under $1 each. Those of you with the 1947-53 style, might want to consider switching to the 1954 style.

Anyway, hope this helps someone. Only reason it wouldn’t would be if your blade wasn’t really a 54 style, or mine wasn’t. But I don’t believe mine is anything but – at least the first couple of refills I bought from Chevy Duty fit it. There may be other wiper refills out there that would work, but I tried quite a few before finding that the Anco had enough of a top lip to work.

Update

Just when I was ready to give up I found the blade that fit my truck’s original wiper arm. Turns out a NAPA part number 60-1233 fits the arm perfectly. It doesn’t look like it would, but a old timer at their parts counter showed me the trick. You don’t need any adapters, it clips right on to the arm.