Today found me heading to Columbia's International dealer. That should have provided me with a new wiper arm, motor and pivot but as soon as I arrived, they wanted the VIN number of my bus which, of course, I didn't know and hadn't thought to copy. Then I had a brainwave and searched my wallet finding all kinds of interesting things ranging from coupons for money off soy milk that expired in 2014 to several years worth of old vehicle registrations. Oddly enough, I had one for my bus. The game was on!
After extensive searching it seemed the wiper stuff was supplied by Carpenter rather than International. As Carpenter went bust in 2001, the chance of getting the needed parts from Carpenter is slightly slimmer than the chance of finding an honest politician.
Thus, Today using my angle grinder I removed the acorn nut from the wiper arm (Dyna brand). A lock washer dropped off. I tapped the stuck core and it dropped out together with a conical knurled gripper of some kind that was firmly rusted to the shaft. I think I've saved myself the cost of a new wiper arm and blade.
The wiper pivot is clearly toast. It seems I can't get a pivot identical to the one Carpenter installed which judging from the look of the welds on it was an in house production. Carpenters workmanship is unmistakable because of its questionable nature.
I think the pivot shaft is probably about 3 inches, estimating from the pieces.
Once I have the pivot replaced, I don't think replacing the motor is much of an issue. I can't see any reason why I shouldn't use a wiper motor from a VW Jetta since they're going for around $25. It's not as though moving a 14 inch wiper over a 135 degree arc is particularly taxing! It's fairly easy to build and attach a new mount for the motor.
First priority is getting a new pivot. For that I might return to the parts department of the truck mechanic I saw yesterday. Pivots online seem to range from $20 to $40 with stupid amounts of postage whacked on top. Seriously... a small part that weighs about a pound and they want $20 postage? That's bloody ridiculous!
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