Vayate

I disassembled the headlight motor linkage for my Firebird due to the gel bushings turning into dust, but when I popped the cover off I found that four spacers had fallen onto the floor. When reassembling, where do the spacers fit? Thanks in advance for the assistance!

l_dis_travlr

If you can post a picture of what you have disassembled,
I'll see if I can get a similar snap of mine (which are currently
sitting in the back seat, awaiting much more eng./body work.)

kk

Vayate

Linkage, disassembled with gear cleaned cleaned. Springs are somewhere around here.

l_dis_travlr

The infamous droopy eye motor...

On the outside, I don't recall any spacers/bushings involved
in securing the drive arm onto the axle. So I assume these
didn't show up until the case was popped open?
At first blush, I would suspect 2 on each side of the axle,
against the brass bushings of the case. I have a light unit
with me (work week in D-FW, week-end at home in Hou.),
but it will be a day or so before I can disassmble it.
Mean-time... could the other one be carefully disassembled
to confirm exactly where these reside?
What's your plan of attack to repair the gel bushings?
Board member lonsal (Top Down Solutions) offers some
replacement pieces that are well regarded here on the board.
My solution (prior to finding TDS) was some o-rings around
the drive axle, that would snug up the cam lobes in the
gear housing. I've never heard a good explanation of GM's
justification of the gel bushings.

Stay tuned...

l_dis_travlr

www.top-downsolutions.com ->
Documentation ->
Deluxe Headlight Repair Kit.

According to lon, these are spacers to align the gear, so the above
answer is probably less than optimal.

The desired effect is probably to center the gear onto the worm drive.
You may still have to disassemble the other one to see what the
alignment should be.

Hope this helps.

kk

lonsal

iTrader: (2)

I'd go with two on each side of the shaft. Something important that I have yet to add to my instructions. There is a very small ball bearing on the end of the worm drive of the motor shaft. It must be there when you reassemble. It sometimes falls off. Secure it with a dab or grease to the cup on the end of the shaft. Now here's the thing I have yet to add to the instructions. On the opposite side of the housing from the motor is a small threaded shaft with a sheet-metal locknut. Once you've reassembled the gear into the housing and the motor to the housing, loosen that locknut ana turn that small threaded shaft with a flat-blade screwdriver in until you just feel some resistance. Then while holding the end of the shaft secure with a screwdriver, tighten the locknut. That small threaded shaft has a cup on the end of it too. It is supposed to support the opposite side of the bearing. If the bearing is not captured by these two cups the worm drive of the motor can climb the gear at the end of the cycle. This will cause it to bind. The symptom of this will be that you have to manually loosen the **** before the headlight motor will be able to lower or raise the headlight.

Lon Salgren