Changing wiper blades

chieffan

chieffan

Tractorologist
Member
Got to be mechanical as it ain't electrical or hydraulic. 04 Chevy Avalanche. Has replacement blades put on at WalMart when I had the truck serviced a couple years ago. Road trip tomorrow and the passenger side does not wipe clean at all. Bought new blades at O'Reillys but it was raining hard and they were busy as heck so didn't ask them to put them on in the rain. Got home in the garage - read the instructions such as they are and cannot figure out how to get the old blades off. Couple different attaching thing-a-ma-jigs with the new blades that don't look anything like what is on there. Tried You Tube and as usual that was useless. Guess the new blades will go back to O'Reillys and they will either put them on or I get my $40 back. Use to be a simple task to change a blade in 5 seconds. My rant for the day.
 
I'm stumped also. Any 3 year old can do it but like you I don't have access to a 3 year old so the fight goes on. Used to be you just lifted the little tab and slid the old one off. Now you have to twirl them around, lift a tab while pushing backward on them. The blade flies off allowing the arm to slam into the windshield causing a crater in the glass big enough to use as a bass pond.
So you take it back and some cute little girl working behind the counter that doesn't know a sparkplug from a hubcap goes out and changes both of them before you can follow her out the door. So you mumble thanks being sure to not make eye contact on the way to your truck. As you leave you turn on your wipers secretly hoping one of them flies off so you can go back and tie into that smart little counter girl. Of course they work fine which causes you to pull out in front of someone who is happy to give you the one fingered salute.
Are you getting the picture here. Just take them back Roger and swallow your pride. I did. :rolleyes:
 
Think I ended up breaking that plastic in the j hook thing then they slid right off---LOL! 2006 GMC Denali. I'm always paranoid about making the bass pond size crater that Chris spoke of but so far so good!

DAC
 
Yeah. Something else overpriced that don't last as long as the old cheapies did. You got 2 years out of a set of blades? How?

And the more expensive of ones you buy the faster it seems they die. When I had my wrangler, I found myself needing a set of wipers like "now" one winter day as I left work. Nothing has a flatter windshield than a Wrangler.
So I stopped by the 1st parts store I came to. Can't remember if it was an O'Reilly's or an advance.
The only 13" blades they had in stock (and they had a whole solid aisle of wiper blades) were some Bosch Icons. Biggest waste of $28 I have ever spent on wipers. Like a week later I was closer to home and went by the old standby parts store And bought a plain old set of anco's for less than$10. Way better than the Bosch pieces of crap.
 
jabelman said:
Most of the auto part stores install them for free
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Like I said in my first post. It was raining hard and they were real busy. Wasn't about to ask the little gal with the big diamond to go out in the rain and fight them. Figured I would slip them on in the garage when I got home. Another day another time.
 
dodge trucker said:
You got 2 years out of a set of blades? How?
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For one thing I don't wipe dirt/dust off a dry windshield. My truck is inside a garage when not in use. Longest it has been parking outside is when at an auction and do not park with the sun on the windshield if I can help it. Sun and dirt are the two biggest enemies of wiper blades.
 
chieffan said:
Got to be mechanical as it ain't electrical or hydraulic. 04 Chevy Avalanche. Has replacement blades put on at WalMart when I had the truck serviced a couple years ago. Road trip tomorrow and the passenger side does not wipe clean at all. Bought new blades at O'Reillys but it was raining hard and they were busy as heck so didn't ask them to put them on in the rain. Got home in the garage - read the instructions such as they are and cannot figure out how to get the old blades off. Couple different attaching thing-a-ma-jigs with the new blades that don't look anything like what is on there. Tried You Tube and as usual that was useless. Guess the new blades will go back to O'Reillys and they will either put them on or I get my $40 back. Use to be a simple task to change a blade in 5 seconds. My rant for the day.
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This link may help as it shows pictures of the J style hook arm that they say is used on a 2004 Avalanche
How to change 2004 Chevrolet Avalanche 1500 wiper blades
 
Will check that out. Something like that on You Tube but I did not find or see that first little clip they show. These blades have been changed the last time at WalMart so who knows what kind of set up is on there. Carolyn is going grocery shopping Monday and she will stop by O'Reilys and have them put them on or get my $$ back. Thanks for the tip 29 Chevy.
 
Those little tab's weren't releasing on our Denali, so I stuck a suitable size screwdriver in there and twisted until pieces fell out. Then they slid off. I can get two even 3 years from the rainx blades we buy. Obviously the mount plastic didn't work well when the rainx blades were worn out though!

DAC
 
Thinking that is the route I will go in the morning. Cant really hurt the arm itself or the J hook if that is what it has and probably is. That or a vise grip and just crush it, going to get tossed anyway. But then to figure out how to get thew new blades on ?? Don't see any place where that J hook can go. May be a better decision to let O'Reily's deal with it. Carolyn will going right by there either tomorrow or Monday. My patients can get very short on these kind of situations any more.
 
chieffan said:
Thinking that is the route I will go in the morning. Cant really hurt the arm itself or the J hook if that is what it has and probably is. That or a vise grip and just crush it, going to get tossed anyway. But then to figure out how to get thew new blades on ?? Don't see any place where that J hook can go. May be a better decision to let O'Reily's deal with it. Carolyn will going right by there either tomorrow or Monday. My patients can get very short on these kind of situations any more.
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If the plastic mount in the blade frame doesn't fit that you can tell it may be best to let the store deal with it then. Once I got those old ones off, it was pretty simple to install the new ones. Crazy part is that I've put blades on it 3 times in six years and never remember what I did for sure. This last time was only a couple months ago so it was still kind of fresh in my mind yet---LOL!

DAC
 
The new blades have an attachment for instaling on one type of arm and a loose attachment for another. Haven't figured out how to change them either so I'll let the store deal with it. I would never last an hour trying to figure it out. After 5 min I was done with it. No wrenches involved so short lived project.
 
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