Bouymaker: did you see this
thread?The wiper arm tension measurement sounds goofy in the context of modern systems, but also pretty reasonable for older vehicles that did not have the spring preloads.
I wonder if a non-trival amount of the issues people have with the wipers now is 60+ years of wear and flexing on those arms has reduced the tension? When I looked last week, there were a fair number of the tension tools on ebay for under $20. I am sorely tempted to pick one up.
I agree that the law does not require a given power source. If the earlier comment about the kids using their feet to run the wipers was serious because there is a mechanism to actually do that, then I apologize. I thought it was a joke.
I have not gotten far enough to look for new wipers for my 58. I have assumed that modern Anco or Trico wipers would be able to attach to the older arms, but if not an adapter might be worth making.
