Heated wiper blades

[nsmilligan]

Anybody have any experiences with these, I bought 1 for my Trackless last winter, to try and keep the windshield clear when blowing snow. The wiper worked great, when it worked, but it kept breaking the wires feeding it. The Trackless has a panograph blade, and it broke frist at the blade end, and after repairing it a couple of times it broke at the cab end. By the end of the winter it was toast as the frame had broken. Anybody recommend a product that will last.

Bill

[Jerre Heyer]

Bill the panograph is the problem.. Lots of movement and flex. In your warm...LMAO weather you'll need some wire for the low temp extremes. Been trying to find a good vendor but not alot of sucess so far. Have tried going to smaller wire ( phone cord ) with the flex built in, and even sacraficed a Fisher GASP!!!!! hand held unit wire. Both held up pretty good for the end of the season.

Jerre

[nsmilligan]

The wires didn't last very long when the temps were near 0 F, and that's when they would be the most useful, trying to blow snow when it's really cold, and keep the windshiels clear of ice is next to impossible.

Bill

[atgreene]

I ran a set of Blizzard Blades for a few years. Worst problem with them was that they ran an open framework, like a summer wiper. Needed to be wrapped like a winter wiper so the ice didn't build up behind the rubber and cause it to ride up. I may buy another set for this year for the Topkick.

Here's the link, is this who you got yours from?

http://www.blizzardblade.com/

[supercomp]

Try these,they are well worth the money,heavy duty and the wiring is rated to minus -100 degrees F

www.hotwipers.com

[Jim Weiler]

We make heated wipers (www.everblades.com) and have been working on a solution for the pantograph style arm breaking wires. We think we may have found the answer by going to a superflexible wire that, according to the manufacturer, does not have a cold limit and is good to 105 degrees C. What we propose to do is furnish that part of the wiring that would see the constant flexing with this super flexible wire and see if it lasts better. The only problem with the wire is that is costs $0.65 to $0.90 cents US per foot (compared to $0.05 per foot for the regualr stuff). I suppose that if it fixes the problem, it would be worth it!

[Lawngodfather]

OK heated wiper blades cool. Gotta get me some

I also have heated mirrors.

Now for both I want to install a timer.

How do get one?

[CPSS]

Last year I tried the "Safety Hot Blade", cost me over $80 a pair. One blade stopped working within a month, the other before the winter was over. Even when working, performance was marginal.

[nsmilligan]

Just a follow up. This year I purchased an Everblade with the new super flexible wire, The problem I had with the wire breaking was solved , but the frame holding the blade broke, but Everblade replaced the wiper FREE with a new frame, which happens to be the same as the OEM frame supplied by Trackless. The rubber wiper has an improved edge, and with the super flexible wire we had NO problems with the Everblade. It's well worth the Extra bucks, especially on the Trackless when blowing snow which is like driving into a continous blizzard, the heated Everblade willl keep the windshield clear.
Thanks Jerre for pointing me to Jim Weiler, and Everblades, they do work and most important they stand behind their product!

Bill

[Chuck Smith]

Bill, thanks for taking the time to let us know they worked for you. It's always nice to hear about a product and compnay that lives up to your expectations.

~Chuck

[Mark Oomkes]

Thanks for the update, Bill. I'll be investing in some next year now that I have heard back on how well they hold up.