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Tonight on the way back from hunting it was raining when I hit a particularly bumpy/ washboard section of the dirt road I was on. That was when I heard a bang and found the drivers side push rod had disconnected from the wiper arm. Getting home was interesting; but, this is probably the fourth time I will have to replace that arm over the eleven years I have owned the truck. I checked the wiper pivot. It moves freely.
Anyone had similar problems? Any alternatives?
Thanks, Buzz

The plastic snap-on part on the ends wear and then they just pop off. The metal "rod" that connects the wiper motor to the wiper arm is reasonably priced (at least last time I bought one) - I would just replace it.

Yes, just to be more clear, it was the plastic ball link at the end of the rod that came off. I agree they are not horribly expensive, it's really a reliability issue for me. Also, it's never the passenger side that goes.

So...it's the wiper pivot that broke. Mine broke in a heavy snow storm at the Grand canyon, naturally the drivers side, and the wiper fell off into the road in the snow, really hard to find after I had driven 20 feet.
As I recall it cost about $90 to get a new one and couldn't be fixed as the ball is pressed in and the short arm is also pressed on. Not something that I would keep one as a spare because of the rarity of it breaking.
Not a cheap fix. Mine was not plastic, but a metal ball.

If the link arm (between the motor crank and the wiper pivot) popped loose from the pivot ball, I would check for the "centering" of the wiper motor between the two pivots -- rotate the motor arm by hand until it pushes the link arms all the way to the left side, and check to see if both pivot arms are at the same angle; the rotate the motor arm to the right and check the angle of the pivot arms on that side. They should be equal in both directions (like about 8 o'clock on the left, and 4 o'clock on the right). I had the rubber motor mount age and take a slight set on an angle which made one link arm pull so tight that the pivot arm went from almost 9 o'clock on the one end and 5 o'clock on the other direction; this puts tremendous force on the link and pivot when the pivot arm gets so close to being in line with the link arm. In my case I actually bent the link arm! My fix was to unbolt the motor from the bracket, put some small "fender washers" over the mounting studs to spread the mounting pressure more evenly over the rubber and this held the motor more flat with the bracket. Now the motor crank arm is well centered between the two pivot arms, the pivot arms travel evenly from 8 to 4 o'clock, and the force is so reduced that I am still operating with the link arm that I straightened (it will never be as strong as before it bent).

If yours is doing the same thing, the high force need to overcome the 9 or 3 o'clock orientations is very likely to cause the ball to pop off. Let us know what you find.

And while you are at it, this is a good time to grease the pivot arms as these are expensive to replace.

Jimm, what you are saying makes sense and is probably what's happening to me. When the new arm comes in, I will check and see if adjustments will help.

Jimm, I was able to adjust the wiper arms so they stop higher on the downswing toward the drivers side and things seem to be better. That said, I found a little play between the ball arm attached to the pivot shaft. I have a buddy with a Mig welder and may take out the pivot to get that tightened up.
Has anybody taken one of these out? It looks like there will not be enough room between the window frame and the dash to get it out without tipping the windshield forward.

I was able to pull both of the wiper pivot shafts from their sleeves without any difficulty. I don't remember that I did anything extraordinary, but once the wiper arm is removed from the outside and the link arm is popped off from the inside, it can be rotated "up" and this may give you the clearance that is not apparent in their normal positions.

If you can't easily get the pivot arm out, you might try some penetrating Loctite on the ball to arm fit and see if that takes the slop out.

I had to make a new shaft for my truck. I just unbolted the dash (4 bolts if I recall) and moved it toward the steering wheel a little which gave plenty of room to pull the whole assembly out.

Slight piggyback - have you found a way to adhere the wiper armto the external portion, when years have taken their toll and rounded the shaft?

Maybe a slim piece of tape? rubber?

On the one I made I just filed a flat spot where the screw tightened on to it.