All my used OEM D1 arms work fine on my D2's with 21inch blades. I did bend the arms a bit in toward the windshield. I positioned the blades where I wanted them before tightening the nuts to secure them. Mine don't bump the A pilar trim and swipe pretty much the exact same path.

I do the WD40 Cleaning of my blades probably once a month. They stay nice and quiet and I use with Bosch Icon or Michelin Hybrid Blades.

 

Would be nice if that worked, but the arms and the driving pegs have splines on them so you gotta take what it gives you in terms of the arms' final positions. In my case (and some others, it sounds like), those position choices aren't really acceptable.

 

The arms/linkages have small splines which interlock. You just sit it where you want, and then lock down the nut. None of my vehicles have any pegs/notches for a certain position.




Images are of a D2 99-04 Wiper Assembly & D1 Wiper Arm. Small splines 360 on both no keyways or pegs for 1 position only mounting.



Hard to see, but if you look close you'll see the line where it stops. It doesn't contact the A pilar with how I have them adjusted. If they hit I'd adjust them to sit down lower on the windshield by like a 1/4 of an inch. That should prevent them from hitting after that.

 

I didn't mean anything like a keyway, I meant the splines. The arms cannot have infinite variability -- they will always sit in a position where the splines in the arm interlock with the splines in the driving peg.

 

Correct but they're 1mm apart so you pretty much have full range of their position. Sorry you had issues, but that is the first I've ever heard of that with the D1 to D2 wiper arm conversion.

Now when those 1mm splines wear out from say a nut not being fully tightened = not good! I bought an 89 Mitsubishi Montero once, drove it home got caught in a big storm only to find the drivers arm didn't move. Pull over thinking loose nut, but nope more like no more metal left on either the arm or spline. Had to drive home super slow & then go buy a very $$$$ assembly once I needed wipers again!

The Xterra arms didn't sit down as far as the D1 arms onto the splines, but once tightened up they don't seem to wanna go anywhere. If it messes up the splines = I have another entire assembly to swap over. Just wanted to test em out as an alternative.

 

1mm spacing on the spline is magnified to a substantial degree by the length of the wiper arm. Rotating by one spline tooth means a difference of about 6 inches at the end of the arm.

 

Are these 21inch blades? I could see it being off with longer than normal blades. Do the blades rest flat not in use? Sorry for the crappy pic and the dirty D2 lol, but this is how mine rest. Now the only other thing which could effect this = the motor to linkage adjustment. If say someone in that vehicles past just replaced the wiper motor & didn't time it correctly = your exact issue. I had a D1 come to me and the darn wipers no matter how much you clocked them = wiper would run over the gasket. Only thing I noticed at first was the windshield was brand new. So I called up the owner and asked what all had been done while the windshield was out. They replaced a rusted wiper linkage, and then had the windshield replaced while the cowl was off. I went and looked at my personal D1 and the position of the wiper motor/linkage was not the same. I matched theirs up to mine and BINGO no more issues. Yours doesn't sound but like 1-2 splines off, but I'm willing to bet that's probably the cause.

 

I don't remember the blade length, but that's really not the issue. If that picture was of my truck with the D1 arms on it, the central pivot point of the blade would either be resting against the lower cowling (with the top part of the blade off the glass entirely), or if I rotated by one spline notch, about 6 inches up the glass -- meaning that it hits the A pillar when the wipers are in use.
Mine has the original wiper linkage. I did take the cowling off to see if there was an issue with the linkage but nothing looked out of place to me, and there was no play in anything. I swiped the linkage from my parts truck before I junked it in case it would be better, but I haven't tested it yet.
The D2 arms sit perfectly, but the D1 arms don't. It doesn't matter which D1 arm I put on which side, either.

 

This is how it should sit in the D1/D2. The wiper motor arm will come to a stop pointing towards the 3oclock position. That is the correct adjusted stop point for the D1/D2 wiper motor to linkage adjustment. If it's off = wipers will never stop/start in correct position/spot.

 

I installed D1 wiper arms and have absolutely no problems. Now I can install fancy silicon blade wipers and stuff. Just got a pair of Silblade delivered, I will install them as soon as the wipers from Costco are worn out.