I'm looking into trading up to the LX470 from my LX450, but every LX470 I see has a rear window wiper problem. All of them start sagging, some even coming below the bottom edge of the rear window. It looks really silly to me, as my 97 LX450 has no such problem. Is this some sort of quality problem? Has anyone had something done about it? I like the new style of rear window wipers coming out on the Acura MDX, Honda Pilot, where it's like one big smooth plastic arm.

 

I have noticed as well that my rear wiper is off by about a 5-10 degree angle. Initially, I kept pulling the wiper straight, but got tired of doing it, as it kept going back to the same downward position.

It has not gone beyond the window frame. As long as it works fine, I have decided to leave the wiper alone.

 

Has anyone figured out why all lx470/landcruiser rear wipers eventually sag? Is this because the wiper arm is getting stripped at the spindle, or is the lever mechanism connecting the wiper motor and the wiper arm wearing out? I've taken apart my rear hatch to try and fix things, but I wasn't able to pull the wiper arm off of the spindle, so I took the panels off the hatch to check the mechanism and didn't notice any looseness or play in the mechanism. So I wonder if I should buy a new wiper arm and try to remove the old one and remount the new one. Anyone have any ideas or solutions?

 

They sag because they take a hit from an external force or the drag on the arm is too great on startup/wipe.

The bottom line is the arms socket is very soft so the spindle index's get worn. It's no big deal to pop the cap, loosen the nut and re seat the arm at a new angle.

 

Thanks RobRed...that's what I was thinking, except that I've popped the cap, and taken off the nut, and I can't get the arm to budge from the spindle to even remove it. I will have to get a clamp/puller tool to get it off. A new wiper arm runs ~$60, so I will just install a new one.