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Headlight motor gear help

Baldie88

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 14, 2002
Messages
551
Location
Waterloo, IL USA
Corvette
2016 triple black vert.
I've got an 88 and am attempting to replace the plastic bushings inside the gear for the headlight motor. I did the left one last spring with no problem. However in doing the right I can't seem to get the plastic gear out of the motor. I've twisted the knob and the gear does rotate. I've tried a pliers on the shaft and pulled but didn't want to force it. I did loosen the retaining nut and adjustment screw. I've done everything according to the instructions and I'm at a loss as to what's holding it up. Seems like the other one practically fell out when I redid it. I did a search and sent an email to one person who may be of help but could use any other assistance.

Thanks
 
Not to sure about the insides of the headlight motors because I ended up replacing the whole unit. I would think that a local Chevy dealer would be generous enough to pop it off for you......It's worth a shot

Jay
 
there is a problem with that side... The gear has a 'lip' on one side of it (the inside in your case, so the gear will not slide up, the worm gear hits the lip), what you have to do is cut through the lip, so the gear teeth go all the way through, you only have to do a few of the teeth, so you can rotate the cut areas to the worm gear, then lift it up.... The plastic on the gear is pretty soft, I think i used a thin center punch... stick it down the gear and sort of knock out the plastic at the end... probably only 4 or 5 teeth need to be done, then rotate that area to the worm gear, and lift it up (it will probably need a bit of force still) after it is out, you can clean up the gear, make sure it is smooth where you took out the lip. hope this helps
 
Got it fixed. Thanks for all the help, especially to Dennis Houghton. Can't believe this one was so much harder compared to the left one I did. I'd like to have a word with one of those sadistic engineers that designed some of these parts.
 
no kidding... on my 93 I did them both at the same time... I had thought it was going to be a costly repair (heck, the gears even cost a couple hundred if you replace them with the metal ones) then I read an article in one of the vette mags about the bushings... a quick run to ecklers and less than 5 bucks later I had them fixed... I think my 96 needs the fix now, I am guessing I am down to 1 out of 3 bushings per headlight because you can see them shake a bit
 
For your bushings, Go to Home Depot and ask for item number 595609. You will need six of these nylon spacers to repair both headlights. They cost me .69 cents (plus tax) for a pack of three at my local Home Depot store.

Much cheaper than the $7.99 price in MAD, Eckler's and some of the other specialty catalogs and they are the exact same Delrin spacers. Go figure.

If there's a TechTips portal on this Forum search under "headlight bushings." If not, let me know and I'll see if I can get you a copy of the instructions I used when I replaced mine a couple of months ago.
 

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