Gen2 ('04) Rear Wiper install on a Gen1 ('98) Durango
I ordered the parts from Dodge Parts Online. The part numbers are Parts to order:
5135583AA = Arm wiper
55077453AA = Cover - Wiper
5135584AD = Rear blade (articulated in three sections and is really the second part of the arm.)
Install was real easy and with taking the pics it took me about 20 minutes total to do the conversion.
The parts
Old wiper
This cover part just flips up. It might take a screw driver to do it. Mine flipped up pretty easy.
The nut underneath after flipping the cover up. It is a 13m socket. You might have to spray some WD40 on
it to get it loose as I have heard of some breaking the stud when trying to remove it. So be careful.
Once the nut is off, just move the arm back and forth to loosen it from the shaft. The shaft is tapered and both te arm hole and shaft are grooved.
Working it around will get it off though.
Here you can see the grooves and how it is tapered.
This is the wiper blade part itself. The two round tabs that the arrows point to snap into holes on the arm part. Pushing the larger tabs together that my fingers are own
is how you remove the wiper blade later for replacement.
These arrows point to one of the slots that the round tabs slide into so they can lock in place where you see the round holes.
Once the two pieces are snapped together, you can see what the arm will look like as compared to the Gen1 arm. You can see that the Gen2 arm is shorter than the
Gen1 arm. the Gen2 arm is a full 3 inches shorter. In this case, size really doesn't matter because the wiper clears a section that covers what you see in the rear view mirror while driving.
I believe the engineers simply found out they could cut a few ยข off the production costs by shortening the blade without effecting drivability.
I went ahead and used some Cleaner/Wax to bring the color back out in this part.
The hole on the Gen2 arm is tapered like the Gen1 but doesn't have the grooves to match up on the spindle. Also, the bolt hole is in a section of the arm that's spring loaded. It pivots so it springs out when you pull the installed arm away from the glass. On the Gen1 arm, the entire section pivots. On the Gen2 arm, the pivot section is concealed inside of the arm. Once I placed the arm where I wanted it (the starting/off position), I used a screwdriver to press the pivot section inward towards the hatch and then I placed the nut on the shaft and tightened it down. Otherwise the pivot section would be in the way slightly and there wouldn't have a lot of threads for the nut to latch onto. NOTE: The nut won't go on as far as it was with the Gen1 arm but the new nut that I returned "was" identical. Once tight, I supported the arm and tightened the nut down again because the tightness and pressure on the pivot piece is what holds the arm on keeping it from slipping since there are no groves on the Gen2 arm as mentioned above. I'm sure the old saying is 'tight is tight and too tight is broke', so don't over do it! If I had to do it over, I'd add Lock-tite to the bolt before I tightened it. I'll go back and do that sometime soon.
After installing the nut, I treated it for rust.
Once the arm's in place and the nut is on, just pop the cover/cap in place to cover up the hole. The caps between the Gen1 and the Gen2 are dramatically different in size and style.
There's a little section that tucks up towards the arm in a slot like place and then the cap pops in place. It can't go on wrong, so this is simple. Once the cap's in place, you're done! The arrows point to where the old arm extended to.
I also installed the old arm where it belongs!
Notes:
I wish to thank IndyDurango of the Durango Owners Club for his post on this subject and the excerpts I used from that post. You can go HERE to see the thread on it.
The Gen2 arm looks like it could be heavier than the Gen1 arm, however this isn't the case. The plastic on the Gen2 arm is much lighter than the metal on the Gen1 so there should have no ill effects to the wiper motor.