dship Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 I recently successfullly replaced the crank arm and adjustment bolt & nut on the drivers side headlight motor of my 91 Reatta. But when I activate the headlight (either up or down), I hear the motor run for a few seconds beyond the "full up" or "full down" position. I need your opinion on how to correct this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harry yarnell Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 Nylon rollers have probably turned to crumbs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney Eaton Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 Inside the motor, there are three plastic rollers that lock the output shaft to the big white gear. Over time these crack then get ground into powder by the action of the parts.Attached is a picture of the shaft, gear, good rollers and ground up rollers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dship Posted March 25, 2013 Author Share Posted March 25, 2013 Thanks for the advice and direction, folks....much appreciated! I will replace the rollers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sosuzguy Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 Thanks for asking that question Ship, the motor on my passenger side runs for a little bit after they go up and down too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sosuzguy Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 Inside the motor, there are three plastic rollers that lock the output shaft to the big white gear. Over time these crack then get ground into powder by the action of the parts.Attached is a picture of the shaft, gear, good rollers and ground up rollers.[ATTACH=CONFIG]184543[/ATTACH]Barney are these rollers available, I have not checked yet. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harry yarnell Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 (edited) I think Barney sells 'em. The corvette vendors sell them (same rollers). Or check E-bay. Keyy in reatta headlight motor; there's a fellow selling six rollers for $11. Edited March 25, 2013 by harry yarnell (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney Eaton Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 I have rollers......contact me at Barney@texas.net Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NCReatta Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 You can buy standard ones for Ford window motors at Advance if I remember correctly. Some of the roller only kits on ebay aren't the right size. Too small and will make the unit slam down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kingsley Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 Dship - have sent you a PM.Kingsley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dship Posted March 25, 2013 Author Share Posted March 25, 2013 Kingsley,Received and replied...thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest walkerboh_1999 Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 There are several sites on line which have the rollers pre made to spec. The ones I have found all have step by step directions which are very easy to follow. Several gm cars from the 88s in to the 90s (fiero, corvette, reatta, just about any gm from that era that have the flip up lights have this style). I have changed/corrected many headlights on different cars and I can offer this. If you change one side do both, if you buy a kit find the one that use the delron rollers as they seem to work the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kingsley Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 (edited) I stand to be corrected, but there are three Forum vendors who both design and market their personal design of headlight motor repair kits and all of them use Delrin torque rollers - commonly called roller bushings - and you do not have anything to worry about when buying from them. .Over the years, most folks have seen many variations of the physical makeup of these parts ranging from machined aluminum, plastic tubing and materials. I have seen some JB Weld or equal completely filling the cavity which these parts fill - extremely nice workmanship - but completely useless as they lack the certain amount of resiliency that the Delrin affords under pressure. The lack of this resiliency will bring on more trouble than one can imagine or want!For the benefit of all Forum participants, for a completely unbiased review of the headlight motor repair kits offered by paricipants of this Forum, recommend a review of all of them prepared by our current moderator, Padgett, which is outlined in a sticky by Rawja placed at the very beginning of the Buy/Sell Forum. It would well be worth the time it takes to read it.Good luck and thanks for your thoughts expressed in your post.Kingsley Edited March 28, 2013 by Kingsley typo (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney Eaton Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 You have lots of options.... you can make your own, the trick it turning down 1/2 stock to .490 dia. Over the years I have rebuilt motors that others have "fixed" and have found... ball bearing, the spray nozzle from spray cans, nuts and several people have put various types of epoxy, caulking, and even screwed the gear to the shaft. There is no data to tell how long different materials last in this enviroment. Many of the original parts are still working 23-25 years later. As you might suspect the number of time you open and close your headlight probably has the greatest bearing on how long they last.Why are they there? Most people believe the original intent was as a clutch in the event the headlight were frozen shut in winter. The rollers would compress and the two parts would "ratchet". By the time the Reatta was made they have the headlight control module, the rollers are probably not necessary......however, they are cheap insurance against destroying some more expensive part in the headlight mechanism. The real problem comes when removing the motor side cover. If your car is from the rust belt, the #8-32 hex head screws are possibly frozen in place. If you only twist off one of the three heads, you can probably still use the motor. Drilling out the broken screw is a challange. Because the screws were "thread forming" the screws are hardened steel and normal drill will seldom drill a hole in the screw. If you live in the rust belt.....soak the screws with penetrating oil, heat them, anything to try and loosen the screw. Also slowly turn both directions and hope you start to see some movement before the head snaps off. Good luck. The good news, if you car has replacement motors, usually with later date codes, they did not use the thread forming screws and they seldom break. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sosuzguy Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 For the benefit of all Forum participants, for a completely unbiased review of the headlight motor repair kits offered by paricipants of this Forum, recommend a review of all of them . prepared by our current moderator, Padgett, which is outlined in a sticky by Rawja placed at the very beginning of this Discussion Forum. It would well be worth the time it takes to read it.Good luck and thanks for your thoughts expressed in your post.KingsleyThank you for pointing this out. I am a fairly new Reatta owner and need to research this to know what kits to buy. I believe you get what you paid for; the price of paying to low; and doing something right the first time and moving on... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest steveskyhawk Posted March 29, 2013 Share Posted March 29, 2013 The machine shop that makes torque rollers for me has a lathe that turns the Delrin down to the proper diameter and then cuts it off to the proper length. Virgin 1/2 inch Delrin rod is fed in one end and the torque rollers are caught in a bucket on the other. I have them made by the thousand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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