Headlight bushing replacement

[Aurora40]

My headlights were slow to open/close, they'd take a rather random amount of time to do either. And sometimes they'd sort of pause mid-motion with the motor whirring. Classic sign of the bearings being turned to dust.

Anyway, I replaced them today and noticed something. The drivers side gears pull out nice and easy, but the passenger side doesn't because the gear is flipped over. Basically the lip on the side of the teeth is under the motor gear, and thus won't slide out over it. Is there some secret to this? I ended up pulling the motor itself out to get the nylon gear out. But when you do this, the connectors to the motor shoot off their springs. It's very hard to get back together, so I rigged up two small pieces of wire to hold them in while I stuffed the motor back in. Then I pulled the wires out at the last minute and pushed the motor all the way back on.

What have you all done to get the nylon gears in/out? I don't recall ever hearing that one side was different than the other in the how-to's I've read.

 

[tonylong]

btt - I'm getting ready to do the bushing replacement on my 89, I'd like to follow this post myself.

 

[Aurora40]

btt - I'm getting ready to do the bushing replacement on my 89, I'd like to follow this post myself.

Then let me try to explain it better. This site has a nice write-up:
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/zrjuan/headlight.html

But it's showing the driver's side motor. Look here and see the gear. Notice the white nylon gear has one edge where the teeth are basically open, they could slide in against other gears. But the edge on the back side of it there's a solid rim around it:

In this picture is the whole thing. Notice the cover that is removed from the motor housing serves to hold the back side of the gear assembly. The long shaft sticks through the other side, through the large housing, not the cover:

Well on the passenger side, this is reversed. The removable cover has a hole through it. The big housing holds the back side of the gear assembly, and the cover holds the front with the shaft passing through it.

So on the drivers side, the gear assembly slides right in, because on that side the gear teeth are open. But on the drivers side, the ridge from the first picture is the first part in, so it's on the other side of the motor teeth. It won't just pull out.The teeth would have to gouge through the ridge for it to pull out, and there is no "keyed" part or something where the ridge is gone.

I pulled the motor out, which as I said sucks. There are two contacts for the motor that are spring-loaded, and they shoot out as soon as you remove it. It's tricky to hold them back while reinserting the motor, as you have to insert it almost all the way before the contacts are in place, no space for fingers by then. I made two little hooks from copper wire to hold them back. This was actually pretty easy and I could do the whole thing by myself. But I wonder how others do this?

 

[Blue89]

I think this is an excellent link for bushing replacement:
http://www.corvettefever.com/howto/33098/
By the way, be careful how you disassemble the unit so you can reassembly it correctly. I wound up with two washer looking shims that I don't know where they go and if anyone knows where they go.....PLEASE tell me!!! The lights work like new but the assembly is a bit loose and misaligned hence the missing shims, I'm sure. I got one set of my bushings from a local vette parts house and the other set from EBay because the local vette parts house didn't have two sets (you believe that!! but it's true!). Thumbs up.......wave.........

 

[*89x2*]

Bob, I just did this on my 93 - it was CAKE!

You shoulda gotten ahold of me forst man - C.

 

[Blue89]

I agree! It was a piece of cake compared to the replacement of the EGR valve that I'm going to attempt, however, I'm still staring at the two washer-like shims that I can't figure out where they go on the drivers side light. I would gladly take it apart again (which, again, is fairly simple) if someone could tell me where they go. Thanks for the response.

 

[Aurora40]

So you all didn't have a problem pulling out the nylon gear on the passenger side assembly? Weird... Mine was cake except for that part.

Blue, are the washers left over those weird oval ones? I believe they are from the exterior, where the shaft slips into that triangle metal thing and the square with the pin you have to hammer off. At least that's the general area they fell off from.

Edit: None of the washers/bushings will affect the headlight position. You have to do this by hand. Loosen all the bolts to where they are just barely tight, and move the light housing aroudn, then tighten them. It took me about 15 minutes per side of carefully moving, tightening, looking, untightening, etc to get them to where I felt they were just perfect. There is a little play in how the assembly fits over the mounting bolts, so they won't automatically be reinstalled in the perfect way.

 

[*89x2*]

So you all didn't have a problem pulling out the nylon gear on the passenger side assembly? Weird... Mine was cake except for that part. .

No problems - I actually used a jewelers screwdriver through the hole and pulled it out - worked like a champ!

 

[Edmond]

I agree! It was a piece of cake compared to the replacement of the EGR valve that I'm going to attempt, however, I'm still staring at the two washer-like shims that I can't figure out where they go on the drivers side light. I would gladly take it apart again (which, again, is fairly simple) if someone could tell me where they go. Thanks for the response.

The EGR is a piece of cake to do! I can get the plenum off in 5 minutes, it's not difficult at all. Just remember the vacuum lines on the side of the plenum and the connections on the bottom of the plenum. We tend to forget about those because they're not as obvious as the connections in the rear.

The EGR nuts themselves are 3/8" and are easiest if you use a crows feet socket on them.

I unbolted the TB off the plenum but I didn't actually remove the TB from anything else.

Just be ready for a bunch of those lines to be cracked and they will break because they're so old.

 

[brimis]

Then let me try to explain it better. This site has a nice write-up:
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/zrjuan/headlight.html

But it's showing the driver's side motor. Look here and see the gear. Notice the white nylon gear has one edge where the teeth are basically open, they could slide in against other gears. But the edge on the back side of it there's a solid rim around it:

In this picture is the whole thing. Notice the cover that is removed from the motor housing serves to hold the back side of the gear assembly. The long shaft sticks through the other side, through the large housing, not the cover:

Well on the passenger side, this is reversed. The removable cover has a hole through it. The big housing holds the back side of the gear assembly, and the cover holds the front with the shaft passing through it.

So on the drivers side, the gear assembly slides right in, because on that side the gear teeth are open. But on the drivers side, the ridge from the first picture is the first part in, so it's on the other side of the motor teeth. It won't just pull out.The teeth would have to gouge through the ridge for it to pull out, and there is no "keyed" part or something where the ridge is gone.

I pulled the motor out, which as I said sucks. There are two contacts for the motor that are spring-loaded, and they shoot out as soon as you remove it. It's tricky to hold them back while reinserting the motor, as you have to insert it almost all the way before the contacts are in place, no space for fingers by then. I made two little hooks from copper wire to hold them back. This was actually pretty easy and I could do the whole thing by myself. But I wonder how others do this?

Wonderful write up!