I have a problem with the wiper blades icing up to the point i have to stop and knock the ice off every 10 minutes or so when in bad weather. I purchased a set of "winter" wiper blades and they helped a bit is there something I can do to combat this problem or is it just a bad design on the internationals?

I have tried running the defroster on HOT/HIGH to keep it from icing up but that hasn't helped.

Winter wipers and a good winter washer fluid is all I can think of.
Your Defroster should take care of your problem. Is it working? :P

Specifically, check to see that the defroster vents are blasting out as much air as they should be. When it gets heavy and snowy I put the defroster on full defrost, fan on high and heat all the way hot and it gets uncomfortably hot in the truck almost immediately; I regulate cab temperature by how far open I have the window.

Another thing I do is to always leave the wipers on low (or high), not intermittent, you don't want to give the ice any time to pile up at the ends of the wiper travel, keep the wipers moving at all times.

As for window wash, the regular cheap stuff is basically methanol and water, which freezes almost immediately when applied in the cold air when the methanol evaporates and the water does not. Instead look for some propylene glycol based stuff which is actually antifreeze or use RV antifreeze, it should de-ice the windshield if it gets too bad.

Also check the basics, I don't know where the fresh air comes in on that truck but it could be blocked by snow and ice also which would cause inadequate heat on the windshield.

My theory is to keep the windshield as hot as possible and keep those wipers moving

Birken

I happened upon something that makes a big difference. In icy/snowy conditions, put your sun visor down to about a 45 degree angle. It helps trap/recirculate the warm air from your defroster near your windshield.

Don't run the blades as fast, let them stop at the bottom. Also, make sure there's enough "tension" on the blades holding them on the windshield.

I have "reflex" winter wiper blades, way better than conventional winter wiper blades.

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about 20 years ago or so, I remember hearing about a truck driver who won an award for inventing heated wipers, I dont remember ever seeing them or hearing about them again. sounds like a great invention, but it must have some problem or the dealers would be offering them I would think

I was just watching "two guys garage" this week on tv.
They showed how to install heated wipers!!

I don't know where to buy them, but they must be available.
They looked like normal wipers but had a cord that hooks into your cig lighter.


I drive a snowplow, we always run the heater on all the way hot and defrost and fan on high. And use window to cool the cab down, or you will be sweating.
Sometimes one of those fans that mounts on the dash, blowing against the windsheild really helps too.

Theres just some snow thats almost impossible to keep from freezing to wipers, i just reach arm out window and grab blade to knock ice off!

Maybe it's me, but why hasn't anybody designed a built in defroster for the front windshield? How hard can it be to look through six or seven lines spaced evenly apart?

There may be some law against it but I think they have done it in Cadillacs and such by using some sort of a conductive film in or on the windshield so it can be done but it is just expensive.

I have worked on sno-cats and what they have is a sheet of plexiglas inside the windshield and parallel to it about 2-3" away from the glass. It forms a duct for the hot air so the defroster works even better. I was not smart enough to look and see if they did anything special with the wipers though.

Birken

If its real cold out, do you have a piece of cardboard over the grill to make sure the radiator is not staying *too* cool.