Yet another post about headlights

[AZVET]

I just took delivery of a headlight repair kit from Barney Eaton.  Good stuff!  He even includes the plastic stop nut that had broken off my current headlight assembly.

I did not realize that I was missing the rubber bumper that fits on the end of the bell crank.

I wonder if that is one of the reasons the headlight would go up sometimes and not at others?

Anyway, I found a piece of rubber hose that fit over the tang on the new bell crank, smeared on some liquid nails and squeezed it in my vice.  I will take a look at it in the morning and see if it works.

If anyone has a good used, correct piece I certainly could use one.  I will trade my old driver side bell crank for that rubber piece.  I compared the slot to my new one and it looks virtually the same with only a tad bit of wear on it.

[Ronnie]

A lot of people have used a piece of heater hose for a bumper and it worked just fine.

[Barney Eaton]

Best we can tell.....that bumper does not alter the operation of the headlight.........it just keep the metal parts from rubbing together.

If you think about the operation....when they are closed the arm is against a stop,  same with when they are open.   

Vibration and wind could cause the headlight assembly to move some and possibly develop a squeak if not for the rubber stop.

[AZVET]

The rubber hose worked great.  Now the operation of the left headlight is perfect.  I was more patient with the headlight cover adjustment this time and it is now fitting better than ever.

BUT - now the right headlight is making a loud clicking noise after each up and down cycle.  Does it never end?

[Barney Eaton]

Ron....since you have repaired one light,  you know there are two things that can fail.

Inside the motor there are 3 plastic rollers......these crack and then get ground up by the mechanism.

Because the pieces/powder cannot get out,  it will pack to one side and the headlight will open but there is lots of slop and the light often sort of "stutters" as it goes up.

 

Then there is the arm/bellcrank.    It is a soft zinc casting attached to the steel motor output shaft.

The shaft has flats on each side to lock the bellcrank in place.    With hundreds of cycles up and down,  the bellcrank works pretty good until it get a little loose, once loose, the steel shaft starts

to wear on the soft zinc....the hole in the bellcrank starts to look like a "bow tie"  and you start to get hesitation in the operation of the light.   At some point,  the flatted hole wears to the point of being round

and there is nothing to keep it from turning on the motor shaft.    At that point you have a total failure.....the motor will run and time out but the headlight will not go up or down.

 

When you disassemble the headlight for repair.......if you only do one of the repairs,  all the torque is now transferred to the old part that was not replaced.  

Bottom line....it is best to replace the bellcrank and rollers for best long term results.

 

A word of caution.......I have found motors with all sorts of "fixes" to replace the plastic rollers.   We believe the rollers were intended as a clutch that would slip or fail if some other part was stuck

Imagine ice on the car and the headlights try to open....then the rollers either slip or fail.......do not replace the rollers with some non yielding part....I have seen marbles, hex nuts, caps off spray cans and even

Gears that have been filled with epoxy.    The plastic rollers are cheap (but hard to get to)  the other parts are harder to find and more expensive....use the plastic rollers

 

The last picture/sketch attemps to explain why we have a poor design.   When first installed and the nut tightened, the bellcrank is tightly attached to the motor shaft.   The problem is the very small area

of contact that does not allow the nut keep the bellcrank tight.....with very little use,  the small lip on the steel shaft sinks into the zinc....once that happens, the nut is no longer tight on the bellcrank and thing

go downhill after that.    

 

The aftermarket STEEL bellcranks that are available avoid the problems of the zinc original part.

[AZVET]

I will pull the right one apart tonight.

I guess having a hobby car as a second vehicle means getting to "play" with it from time to time!

The national GTO/Pontiac caravan is rolling into Kingman this Saturday.  They started in Pontiac, IL today and are travelling Route 66 until they get to Needles, CA.  I will go look at them but they will not allow any non Ponchos into their show?

Edited September 27, 2018 by AZVET (see edit history)

[AZVET]

Yep! Here is what I found.

I had purchased a used one and should have transferred over the parts from the one with the bad motor that I had just rebuilt.

Live and learn.

 

[AZVET]

What is the trick to getting the new gear to slide onto the worm gear? I understand the passenger side is worse than the driver's side.  This is the passenger side.

Edited September 28, 2018 by AZVET (see edit history)

[Ronnie]

Barney is the headlight guru so he may know an easier way. Here is how I did it.

 

Slide the white gear up the shaft as shown in the first photo. That will make it easier to start the end of the shaft into the bearing. Then once you get the shaft in the bearing put a deepwell socket over the shaft and pop the gear into place.

 

 

 

[AZVET]

Thanks Ronnie.  That worked!

Upon closer inspection I discovered that I have an East Coast Reatta Parts bell crank in my right headlight and a Barney Eaton bell crank in my left.  Both look very sturdy and work well.  The headlights will surely outlive me.?

[Barney Eaton]

Ronnie's procedure above works like a charm.......  I always did it the hard way until he posted his solution.

Also.......the shims that go on the short shaft.....put some grease on them so they don't fall off when you are installing the gear assembly.