Head Light Bronze gear time

[WildWilly55]

My driver headlight finally started to act funky---so I would imagine the plastic gear is FUBAR'd--Have ordered a Bronze set that I can pick up at Carlisle and will swap this out in the parking lot of the Hilton in Harrisburg---I will keep you posted!!! I think I have had all the Corvette demon's hit my car now---I hope!!!

 

[Riley P]

Take pictures and let us know how it goes. I'm sure the clock is ticking on my plastic gears.

 

[hb32]

My passenger side started grinding for several seconds after closing last night. 2002 with 17,000 kms and very little use on the lights. What ever possesed GM to use plastic gears in a mechanical part that is used a lot??

 

[Riley P]

With the amount of light that the headlights put out, I think GM figured no one would use them.

 

[not2melo]

Manny gave me one of those little units that stop the headlight from automatically flipping
up all the time when you in the garage but its bright outside, saves the headlight gears a bit.
They always seemed to flip up and turn on when I dont want them too but dont anymore.

 

[WildWilly55]

Hi guys---finally put in my brass headlight gears---sorry no pictures--I had just woke up off midnight shift and tackled it at home---thank goodness we did not try and do this down at Carlisle like we planned. As the cover for the gears is plastic and you have to break the cover free with a screw driver---assemble and reglue the cover on (it has a 12 hour set time) But all went well--pretty simple really. I did find a headlight main wire that was pinched against the frame right from assembly at Kentucky. Works great now!! First one took about 2 hours--the second one flew --25 minutes.

 

[OBSESHON Mark]

Hey Willy.
To extend the life of these gears, and to stop the premature headlight openings.
Just remove the #44 relay behind the removable carpet piece at the front of the passenger foot well.
You will now have complete control over headlight function.

I just remembered you have an American car and it doesn't have the DRL's

Oh well good luck with your new gears.

 

[HLN A55]

thanks mark, i had no idea it was that easy

 

[hb32]

Holding off for the rainy season to begin then will tackle it also.

 

[WildWilly55]

No problem the first one always takes the time--do the driver side first as it has the bracket to hold the glued re-assembly togeather (with some broken off popsicle sticks as spacers)--the passenger side you have to let "set" over night to bond. P.S.--take out the hood adjustment screw with rubber plunger---it kill's your arm to reach around that puppy!!!

 

[hb32]

Hey Willy.

I just remembered you have an American car and it doesn't have the DRL's

Mine is an American car also and it has the DRL`s When I imported, the RIV requirements stated that the park light lenses had to have "DRL" imprinted on them, which they do.

 

[hb32]

No problem the first one always takes the time--do the driver side first as it has the bracket to hold the glued re-assembly togeather (with some broken off popsicle sticks as spacers)--the passenger side you have to let "set" over night to bond. P.S.--take out the hood adjustment screw with rubber plunger---it kill's your arm to reach around that puppy!!!

Thanks for the heads up and when the rainy season starts here on the coast this will be first on the list.

 

[hb32]

Today was the day here on the wet coast albeit nice and sunny Took longer taking my time removing the motors then replacing the gears. I followed an excellent pictorial write up from the CF and did not remove the housings. Fairly straight forward and waiting for the epoxy to set up before reinstalling them. Right (passenger) is a little tight for access but manageable. One of the plastic gears was worn but did both anyway.
Next on the agenda is the TI Z06 cat back install

 

[Riley P]

Sounds sweet! I'm hoping with my new lights to never have to change a gear.

 

[ve2yzb]

Plastic gears

Hi , Im new to this forum...I worked 15 years as an industrial mechanic,Just wanted to let you guys know about why they use plastic gears...Plastic gears are less prone to corrosion, and they have inherently low coefficients of friction to minimize wear.Plastic gears also lend themselves to applications where grease or oil is unacceptable.Plastic gears provide the opportunity to cut drive noise by reducing dynamic loading. Gear misalignment and small tooth errors create tiny impacts resulting in running noise.However, lower modulus plastic gear teeth deform and absorb impact to compensate forthe inaccuracies, making plastic gears quieter than metal.
Hope this was of use to you all before you decide on changing to brass or metal gears...

 

[Riley P]

Quick question, does brass corrode?

I assume plastic is also much cheaper than bronze or another metal so that is probably also a good reason why they went with plastic. As for noise, I know mine cluck nicely when going up or down. They seem to have very positive stops.

Very cool to hear about plastics forgiveness when gears are misaligned. I did not think of that. I guess you have to have a weak spot somewhere to save other components if something goes wrong.

VERY glad to have you on the forum! Welcome! I look forward to hearing your explanations around design when other issues arise. It's always nice to hear reasons for why people design things the way they do.

 

[ve2yzb]

Brass

Thanks for the welcome.... For the brass, I've had to change brass components before...Well ya it does happen but all depending on its environment....Here I got this of the Internet to explain:

1) Brass does not corrode but it can lose it's zinc through electrolytic action usually caused by dissimilar metals being in close contact. Are the nuts and washers a different metal or even steel which of course does corrode. Separating dissimilar metals by a plastic washer may help.

2) Yes Brass can corrode especially if coupled to a more noble metal in which case it will undergo Galvanic Corrosion. Amines and Nitrogen containing compounds can cause Stress Corrosion Cracking.

 

[Riley P]

That is so funny to hear about brass. I figured the whole point of it, other than maybe being easy to cast/machine/form would be it's resistance to corrosion. HA! Suckers I guess.

Stupid metals and their stupid galvanic corrosion. That's why I was thinking of just bolting chunks of zinc to my truck. Let that stuff rot instead of the panels.

Don't forget about ammonia or stuff that releases ammonia around brass, that stuff'll induce the ol' stress cracks too.....or so wikipedia told me.

 

[OBSESHON Mark]

Another positive point on using the plastic gears is:
If for some reason the gears jammed or did not function properly they would strip/ fail before burning the motor out.
If the brass gears failed / jammed they will not strip or break very easily, causing the motor to continue running until it burned out.
They are also lighter than the brass.

 

[ve2yzb]

Another positive point on using the plastic gears is:
If for some reason the gears jammed or did not function properly they would strip/ fail before burning the motor out.
If the brass gears failed / jammed they will not strip or break very easily, causing the motor to continue running until it burned out.
They are also lighter than the brass.

Yes that is a fact...:agree: