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How to: Remove Lark Wiper Arms

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  • Body / Glass: How to: Remove Lark Wiper Arms

    Plenty of people have asked over time how to remove wiper arms. I did mine today and took photos. I think this will work on most postwar cars, as the Trico mounting design didn't change much over the years.



    This shows how the arms attach to the splined hubs. The circle shows a little spring-steel clip that must be released in order to get the arms off the hubs.

    Lisle sells a special tool for this (of course they do!) but it's hard to find, and you don't really need it. All you need is a right-angle awl or a hook-type tool that you can grab that clip with.



    It helps if you have someone to help you with this, but you can do it yourself. Raise the arm and slide the hook behind the spring clip and pull away from the hub. Then use a small pry tool to lift the opposite edge of the arm, and it will slide right up and off.



    BTW, this is what happens if you are too rough. See the broken bit of the drive hub? Someone else did this, not me. The hub is just pot metal, so if you hook that by accident - even using the special Lisle tool - you can break the casting. Luckily there's enough left on mine to engage the clips, but these are not serviceable apart from the pivot assembly, so if you break it, you need a whole new assembly. Be gentle!

    Lots more pix (and words!) on my blog, but this is the condensed version. Hope it helps someone else!

    Clark in San Diego | '63 Standard (F2) "Barney" | http://studeblogger.blogspot.com

  • #2
    Clark,
    "How to" is a great tag for someone attempting to retrieve technical advice on the search feature of the forum.
    You know it won't take long for this to get buried over time.
    Perhaps submitting to the Tech Tips on the SDC home page would keep it more current and accessible.
    Brad Johnson,
    SDC since 1975, ASC since 1990
    Pine Grove Mills, Pa.
    '33 Rockne 10, '51 Commander Starlight. '53 Commander Starlight
    '56 Sky Hawk in process

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    • #3
      As a couple of asides, when you get them off, take a little time and put a little oil in, on, and around the spline that pokes through the cowl. I did that on the '55 when I had to work on my wiper arms and I needed to remove them, if anything it oils the splines and cleans them up a little bit, as well as makes it easier to remove the arms the next time around. The splines I had, had not moved for the better part of probably 30 years, so it also helped free up the mechanism a little bit, and caused the linkage to operate a little easier(which can help on those cars, since that already so-so and then somewhat seized wiper linkage design retracts to the center).
      The other aside is more of a modification to the original design. I had busted one of the arms, and didn't have another. So I went to our '55 Champion sedan. The sedans have a little longer wiper than the C/K's, but can still very effectively wipe the windshield. This made using them on the windshield a little difficult, since the wipers were going to run into each other. So, since the wiper splines did not have a keyway to speak of, I clocked one wiper a little higher than the other on it's spline. When the wipers came to rest, one wiper would overlap the other wiper, but they would not interfere with each other while in operation.
      1964 Studebaker Commander R2 clone
      1963 Studebaker Daytona Hardtop with no engine or transmission
      1950 Studebaker 2R5 w/170 six cylinder and 3spd OD
      1955 Studebaker Commander Hardtop w/289 and 3spd OD and Megasquirt port fuel injection(among other things)

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      • #4
        MUCH easier to buy the PROPER tool from snap-On or Mac to do this job.
        Oglesby,Il.

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        • #5
          Probably so, but the CASO in me balks at purchasing a tool I'll need once every decade

          Clark in San Diego | '63 Standard (F2) "Barney" | http://studeblogger.blogspot.com

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          • #6
            To add to what PlainBrownR2 suggested, oiling the pivot splines is good, but brushing on a coat of a product like 'Never Seize' would even be more effective before reinstalling the arms.

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            • #7
              and another problem that arises out of this same discussion is the twisting loose of the actual drive member inside the soft pot metal spline....The fix is to simply drill a small hole through the soft and hard metal(s) and insert a same, shortened, diameter nail or equivalent to maintain rotation......This seems to happen all the time on the driver's side for me.........got this tip from the taxi company that had a fleet of 63's.......real CASO tip for the day !!
              Last edited by jackb; 02-13-2012, 06:16 AM.

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              • #8
                Thank you very much for the tip and the pix. I may be wong but I thought that the little clip was automatically released when the arm was up. Oiling the clip's articulation to let him play freely may be a good idea too.
                Nice day to all.
                sigpic

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