So easy to replace rear wiper

So easy to take off the rear wiper arm to change the rear wiper blade. Wish I knew that before, so maybe this will prevent someone else from having an ugly wiper arm (JB Weld, tan drying 2-part epoxy is all I had handy). $40ish to replace from Nissan.

It was 40F this morning so maybe brittle and mine cracked trying to twist the blade off the arm hook. No room to work. Silly youtube video said "just twist it off, it won't break!" Yes it will.

1) pop off the cover -just squeeze top and bottom to release the little clamps
2) remove 10 mm nut
3) Arm plus blade comes right off ("revolve" it rotationally around the protruding bolt if a couple years of dirt is making it bind.)
4) blade easily pops off arm now that you have more than 2" to work with
5) install new wiper blade, I used attachment B with the Trico rear 14"
6) Put arm+new blade back on the protruding bolt, tighten bolt with 10mm socket in left hand while your right hand holds the wiper blade in a good spot - use dirt mark for reference, then clean the glass when done.
7) pop cover back on.

Shouldn't have to need a socket set to change a wiper blade but after 30 minutes finaigling in the cold this morning, an hour waiting for my epoxy to cure, etc, if I removed the whole arm at first the whole job would have been 10 minutes taking my sweet time.

I used Trico Rear 14" #55-140 and used attachment "B"

Pics shared on "Nissan LEAF/Ariya Owners USA" facebook group.

Yeah, the rear wiper blade has a lot of mis-information around it.

The easiest way is to simply pull the "arm" outwards and you'll have enough slack to change the blade then. It seems counter-intuitive, but the arm can actually be pulled "outwards" from the center. It actually moves in and out every time you use the wiper, so you won't brake anything, it's that way by design because the way the glass is curved, the arm is pulled out when in the middle and comes back in when on the sides.

The only way I discovered this is when I had to pull off the plastic cover to change a license plate bulb and during testing, I left the rear wiper on by accident. I could see the wiper components moving in and out during the wipe and was like "oh, I didn't know it could do that". :lol:

Second part has a pictorial on the rear window

The Second part of this article has a pictorial on the rear window wiper replacement

That looks like a Gen 1 leaf.

Gen 2 has less clearance to lift the arm away from the glass from what people said on FB, Gen 2 might be longer blade (14" for the 2020) as well.

The center cover pops off in 2 seconds, the nut comes off in 10 seconds, and depending how caked on the wiper arm is to the motor's bolt that the nut you just removed threads onto, a few seconds to a minute to remove the wiper arm and blade together.

Gen 1 and Gen 2 rear wipers are identical.

OrientExpress said:

Gen 1 and Gen 2 rear wipers are identical.

Click to expand...

I've seen posts that said Gen 1 was a 10 inch blade and Gen 2 was 14 inches. Making the Gen 1 arm easier to flip out for replacement.
You're free to ignore my advice.