How do you remove the windshield wiper arms off my Sunbird or Cavalier?

The first gen are not like the 2nd gen ones with the side flip out clip. I have to get the wiper arms off to remove the cowl panel which has to be removed so I can remove the fenders off my GT parts car and convertible project car. I really don't want to break up the plastic cowl panels and have no clue how to remove the wiper arms. The service manual is worthless and the J tool is not available on ebay.

HELP

i bought one of these at autozone for about 8 bucks but it doesnt work very well

what worked better for me was a pickle fork for ball joints. it actually works better on wipers than ball joints! the trick is to get even upward pressure on 2 sides of the arm. hold the arm up off the glass with one hand and pry up with the fork with the other. GENTLY! protect the cowl with a rag or something and you might have to put a small block of wood under the fork for more leverage. be very carefull and take your time

sorry this is the wiper tool from autozone

I think I just pulled up on it pretty hard and it came off when I took mine off. I could be wrong. Watch putting tools against the window. You may crack it. I just broke my window in my other car the other day. You know how rear view mirrors seem to randomly fall or or if your at the junkyard you can just pull them off the window without damaging them. Well when I went to replace mine I pulled on the review mirror and the window shattered.




On the inside my car looks like a fighter jet.

I use a towel , a suitable piece of wood, and a very large screwdriver. Be gentle and patient. If necessary , I sometimes use 2 screwdrivers together for a bit more leverage and height. Remember the longer the wood, the less pressure you are placing in one area. Lastly, if someone has painted ( LoL even if that someone happens to be yours truly) the splines or not masked them off and replaced the arms back on, they are going to be double hard to remove. Remember to be gentle and patient!!



.......................................................................

thanks for the help guys. I love your repurposed pickle fork John, that's a nifty idea.

I got mine off by using some vice grips on the sides of the arm around the wiper transmission stud. They chewed up the arm a bit. I could fix it if need be, but did that on my parts GT, not my SE convertible project car. I want to replace the arms with the newer style with the flip out tab.

What I didn't know was that there is no clip or hidden mechanism which holds the wiper arm onto the transmission stud. The arms are held onto the stud by the sideways tension created by the spring in the wipe arm which cocks the arm on the transmission stud to create the tension to hold it in place. That is the key of how these arms function I did not know about or understand. The arms are removed by removing that tension and pulling straight up, away from the wiper transmission stud to the remove them. Though it is simple in operation, getting them to come free is tricky.

On the newer arms on my 89 Z24 convertible, I just pull up the wiper arm, then pry out the tab which holds the arm up away from the windshield. This takes the tension off the female part of the arm that is on the transmission wiper stud. With the tension eliminated, then the wiper arm can be rocked back and forth, while pulling straight up to remove the arm from the wiper transmission stud. That's the incentive for switching to the newer style wiper arms, the ability to use the flip out tab to eliminate the tension on transmission stud caused by the wiper arm tension spring. I also want to make sure I put some antiseize on them before I put the arms back on, though I don't think I will ever have to remove them once this restoration is completed.


thanks for help and responses!

I have removed the wiper arms several times.I use what is considered as a upholstery tree puller(my terms) but looks like a fork and used a towel thick to place under the arm and lift gently.They do pop right off and yeah there is a tension spring I guess that probably could be pushed in while lifting to make it easier and not goof the splines up.The ones I have yanked did not mar up the splines!I have several spare wiper arms for my back ups so I do understand how they work and or install/uninstall.Tired so If I got this a touch out there bare with me.The uph tool is sold at sears for sure and under ten bucks and a big handle unlike a screw driver.