Good question. I just replaced the arms on my 87 after ditzing with them
repeatedly for the last couple years.

I first tried some very similar arms from an early 80s Audi 5000 as they
were the same length and such. NO GO! The Audi used a much larger
splined shaft and more splines. Hmmmm. No wonder the Vanagon ones give
trouble. The high end family members get better stuff I guess.

Mark

Stan Wilder wrote:
>
> Out of approximately thirty different foreign and domestic cars I've
> owned in the last thirty years, it appears that superior German
> engineering makes this the only vehicle that eats the wiper arms. Why is
> that?
>
> Stan
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> > Stan, there is no upgrade -- the system is very carefully designed
> > to
> > protect you (and the rest of the linkage) from yourself in these
> > cases.  If
> > you make that part stronger, it will find something under the dash
> > to
> > destroy instead, or tear the rubber off the blades.
> >
> > If you're not *thoroughly* cleaning out the stripped metal from the
> > splines
> > on the shaft and properly tightening the connection to make deep new
> >
> > splines in the socket, it will strip much too easily.
> >
> > david
> >
> >
> > --
> > David Beierl - Providence, RI
> >   http://pws.prserv.net/synergy/Vanagon/
> > '84 Westy "Dutiful Passage"
> > '85 GL "Poor Relation"
> >
> >
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