Headlight Motor Repair
January 18, 2016
To my knowledge, the headlight motors on my 1965 Corvette Roadster have never been touched. So, after 51 years, some intermittent trouble and very slow flipping up or down, it was time to tackle this job to rectify the situation. As a side note, I've already refurbed the headlight flip switch under the dash.
To my knowledge, the headlight motors on my 1965 Corvette Roadster have never been touched. So, after 51 years, some intermittent trouble and very slow flipping up or down, it was time to tackle this job to rectify the situation. As a side note, I've already refurbed the headlight flip switch under the dash.
Driver's Side
This shows the headlight motor in place in the car.
I disconnected the hood bracket and propped the hood wide open while securing it with a pole and strap so as the have a bit more room to work on these.
Notice that while working on these, everything is upside down or backwards, this is a mirror image.
This motor has a build date of 3 65.
This shows the headlight motor in place in the car.
I disconnected the hood bracket and propped the hood wide open while securing it with a pole and strap so as the have a bit more room to work on these.
Notice that while working on these, everything is upside down or backwards, this is a mirror image.
This motor has a build date of 3 65.
This is the driven gear which is in
reasonably good condition.
reasonably good condition.
This is the drive gear which unfortunately is in
rough shape. There are concaved marks in the middle
which would definitely cause the gear to turn slowly, therefore
the light bucket would react slowly also.
This will definitely be replaced.
rough shape. There are concaved marks in the middle
which would definitely cause the gear to turn slowly, therefore
the light bucket would react slowly also.
This will definitely be replaced.
Here's is what I removed from the driver's side motor. This is a switch that merely tells you if the headlights are flipped out and on. It does this by banking a red light on the dashboard that actually reads "LIGHTS"
The Total Reassembly Process.........
Below is the gear housing with new drive gear and fully lubed with white lithium grease.
Here's the final driver's side motor assembled. I painted the exterior housing with Silver Argent color. I bench tested the motor in both direction using a battery eliminator set at 13.2vdc. The motor spun great pulling a slight bit less than 5.0 Amps. Ready to reinstall it into the car.
For those of you that might be contemplating this job, it's not that complicated. If you have a bit of mechanical working knowledge, you can accomplish this in a few short hours taking your time, and if possible, I highly recommend photographing the various stages of disassembly so you can follow them for reassembly.
I figured I'm doing both Left & Right headlight motors so I bought the necessity items for each side. For the cost of $96, I bought 2 new drive gears @$30 each, 2 warning black limit switches @ $10 each, 2 motor bushings (little white plastic pieces) @ $2.00 each, 2 retainers for HL motor wheel @ $1.00 each, and $13.00 for S/H.
Beats spending anywhere from $175 upwards plus shipping to a 3rd party. Forget buying brand new repos, they're going for $350+. Good Luck :)
For those of you that might be contemplating this job, it's not that complicated. If you have a bit of mechanical working knowledge, you can accomplish this in a few short hours taking your time, and if possible, I highly recommend photographing the various stages of disassembly so you can follow them for reassembly.
I figured I'm doing both Left & Right headlight motors so I bought the necessity items for each side. For the cost of $96, I bought 2 new drive gears @$30 each, 2 warning black limit switches @ $10 each, 2 motor bushings (little white plastic pieces) @ $2.00 each, 2 retainers for HL motor wheel @ $1.00 each, and $13.00 for S/H.
Beats spending anywhere from $175 upwards plus shipping to a 3rd party. Forget buying brand new repos, they're going for $350+. Good Luck :)