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wiper blade refills...

I have in my hand right now a wiper blade that came off of a 1963 Studebaker Avanti... friend asked me to root through his shelves and find some wipers with good rubber and get the wipers working on this beater Avanti that he has in his garage. Well, I used the last two decent wipers he had left so now I figured I'd be nice and find some refills for him, or at least obtain the correct part number so that a) I could post it on the Studebaker maintenance parts list that I maintain and b) maybe be nice to him and buy him the right stuff so that he keeps letting me work in his garage.

So...

Where does one *FIND* info. on wiper refills these days? Useta be you'd just rip a wiper blade off the car, carry it into your FLAPS and match it up to the refills on the rack. However, it's not so easy today... NOBODY apparently carries refills anymore, just new blades. Which is fine if you've got a boring grocery getter, but not so much if you are like me and hate seeing big, chunky matte black wiper blades hanging off of the polished stainless wiper arms of a vintage car.

So I took one of his not so nice but still serviceable wiper blades with no rubber and brought it home with me, figuring I'd poke about online and find a handy chart that would tell me what to order, and all would be good. It would appear that these are the exact same blades used on an early C2 Corvette (which makes sense, the Hawk and pre-63 Lark use the same wiper blades as a C1 Corvette, I already have those under control and have found an acceptable replacement through Corvette repro suppliers) but they are 15" long which I believe are still available as refills at your FLAPS unlike the earlier 12" blades.

My question is this, though - where can I find info. on what is the difference between a "narrow" refill and a regular one? And I certainly don't want the modern type refills that are designed to go into a blade with trapezoidal "hooks," these ones originally had metal spines.

A web search turned up nothing...

So can anyone point me to a resource that would answer these questions, so I can call up the good parts store and tell them to order me the right stuff? Usually asking for parts for a Studebaker gets a blank look and not quite the desired results, so what I'll have to ask for is a "Trico part number xx-15" or whatever.

thanks,

Nate

(who really, really thinks that black wiper blades ruin a nice vintage car. If you couldn't figure that out already.)

Reply to
Nate Nagel
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I *think* these are what I want... but how wide are the splines?

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nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

I was told at a FLAPS here that inserts are no longer available for eleven inch Chevy wipers but that complete stainless wiper assemblies, with inserts in, are only $24.95/pair. I was incredulous but indeed they arrived in two days.

Yeah, black just looks so very "Lego".

Reply to
AMuzi

**eleven?** what are you working on?

we may have to talk. a '55 Stude had 11" wiper blades, and I have a NOS pair with baked rubber. Have not found a suitable replacement for those. I put on 56-64 wiper arms and am using the 12" blades from a Hawk because a) they interchange with a C1 'vette so blades will always be available and b) the later arms had more spring pressure, so they don't fly off the windshield at speed.

Part numbers? Application? (yes, I am one of the Stude part number geeks, I'm trying to capture as much info as I can before all the old guys that know this stuff retire from the hobby and it's all lost...)

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

Trico makes a classic series of blades.

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Reply to
Ashton Crusher

1965 Chevy Corvairs are 11"
Reply to
AMuzi

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Right, but a few minutes on a buffing wheel and the originals are "show correct" not just close. I'm cheap *and* I like to keep stuff as original as I can, so there's two reasons this exercise appeals to me.

After looking into it more it appears that the 43-series refills fit the "classic" line of blades, so I'm going to order a couple pair of those and see if they work. I also suspect, now that I look closer, that the longer 43-series refills might provide rubber suitable for refilling the

12" 56-62 blades, assuming you still have the original splines, which are *not* currently available in the "classic" line at all. Which would be a lot nicer than ordering two little pieces of rubber from Corvette Central at $23/pair plus shipping (but they *are* exact replacements, ASSuming that you're the kind of person who insists on same...)

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

purchase 12" ones and trim them 1 inch..

Reply to
m6onz5a

Only works if the rubber is the right profile... there's different permutations, and I don't have a store that carries 'em nearby anymore.

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

FYI the '65 Corvair takes 15' blades.

Reply to
m6onz5a

In that case it's probably the exact one I have sitting on my desk now, as I'm pretty sure that the C2 'vette was also exactly the same, only difference being polished or satin finish depending on year.

I stopped at the good parts store and verified that the refills that I thought would work did, have ordered one of those (they only had 16" in stock) and also one of the ones that I think I might be able to steal the rubber out of for a more authentic look, and also to refill my earlier 12" blades for which no refills were apparently ever available.

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

Nate Nagel wrote: (long tale of wiper blade woe snipped)

All this sounds real familiar. Long ago, my crazy brother had a mostly

1953 VW bug, and never could find wiper blades or refill. Luckily, he was a engineer with a pretty fair hillbilly machine shop, so he made his own, and made them so they would take a refill that he could get.
Reply to
aemeijers

I'm gonna have to check next time I go home, but I do recall my dad's IH Scout having non-refillable wiper blades, and tiny ones at that. Was a big deal because one AM I was trying to be helpful and chip the ice off the windshield and managed to snag a blade with the scraper and mangle it. Wonder if they're the same as a Stude Hawk or C1 Corvette? I don't know that he's used the wipers in the last decade (it was retired from road duty once the rust holes got too big to pass inspection; now it's just used for dragging firewood out of the woods)

It appears that back in the day when your wipers wore out you just bought whole new assemblies at the parts store, which was fine, so long as they were still popular and therefore stocked...

Now the 15" ones introduced in 1963, those were refillable, but apparently that style of blade is no longer used and there's a different style of "claw" that is now the new standard, so even if you can find refills, they may or may not work. Useta be you would just buy them by length and brand preference, I guess not so much anymore.

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

Have you checked Kanter?

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cuhulin

Reply to
cuhulin

nothing matching "wiper," and I'm trying to find a less expensive solution than "resto parts" prices... haven't had a chance to duck out of the office and pick up the refills I ordered yet, hopefully I will report success tonight

nate

Reply to
N8N

Success!

I suspect that this will work in any older Trico wiper blade if it has the old style stainless steel spline with the little half-round sections connecting the two halves together... buy a new Trico refill part no.

43-190, 43-200, or 43-220. Pull the rubber out of the new refill and throw everything else out. Cut to length, pull into original spline, enjoy. Probably wouldn't hurt to lay the old blade against a buffing wheel while you've got it apart, but that's optional.

I've only verified this on a 15" blade as used on Studebaker Avantis and

63-66 Larks (I believe early C2 Corvette as well) but will be trying it in other similar blades soon as I can get back over to my friend's house where all the old parts are.

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

There has been at least one time before, many years ago, when I cut/shortened one or two wiper refills.It worked ok for me.

A few months ago, O'Reilly's didn't have any windshield wipers that would fit my 1983 Dodge van.The ones I bought at O'Reilly's were made by Rainx, O'Reilly's didn't have any other ones that would fit my van.I went across the street to Advance auto parts.I bought two Trico windshield wipers, they fit perfectly. cuhulin

Reply to
cuhulin

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