1986 Headlight Assistance Needed

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Jul 30, 2014 | 09:25 AM

chris1

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Joined: Dec 2004

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From: Drums PA

1986 Headlight Assistance Needed

Hi everyone: I turned on my headlights last evening, and the driver's side only rotated about 2 inches. The light will come on, however it barely moves more than a couple of inches. I tried to manual get it to open by applying a little extra force, but no luck. When I turn off the headlight switch, it will return to the normal parked position. I do have a factory service manual, however it wasn't much help. Is it time for a new internal gear(s)?

Thanks, Chris

Jul 30, 2014 | 03:21 PM

bogus

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Joined: Aug 2000

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From: San Pedro CA

gears or bushings... take your pick...

Either way, nearly 30 years on, not bad.... not bad at all.

Do both lights with a full rebuild and you won't have to worry for a long time to come.

Jul 30, 2014 | 03:23 PM

chris1

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From: Drums PA

Quote:

Originally Posted by bogus

gears or bushings... take your pick...

Either way, nearly 30 years on, not bad.... not bad at all.

Do both lights with a full rebuild and you won't have to worry for a long time to come.

Yup, that's what I thought. I will probably wind up ordering the gears shortly. Just gonna double check to make sure it not binding somehow on something as it starts to open. I already printed out Cliff's repair procedure.........

Thanks

Aug 2, 2014 | 07:00 PM

Rx4fun

8th Gear

Joined: Sep 2009

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I purchased the rebuild kit for my '88. There were three pellets per side. They are a nylon like material that wear out allowing the gears to be preserved.

Aug 2, 2014 | 08:34 PM

ccrazor

Race Director

Joined: Aug 2007

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From: Whitefish Falls Ontario

St. Jude Donor '08-'09

84-87 do not have the pellets, it's usually the white nylon gear..

Aug 4, 2014 | 01:56 PM

chris1

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From: Drums PA

Quote:

Originally Posted by chris1

Update - Solution - Thanks for the help on this one. I wound up searching the forum again just to see how many others had this issue and for any other tips/hints on the repair, and I came across a thread where someone had the passenger side headlight getting caught up on the coolant overflow hose, preventing it from operating correctly. Since mine (driver's side) was very difficult to open manually (it felt like it was getting held up on something), I took a closer look, and one of the torx screws that hold the outside fiberglass covering on had backed itself out, and was preventing the headlight from rotating more than 5% of so. A little loctite, and I'm back in business

(for now). I even adjusted the bumpstops to make both lights look better when they are in the closed position. Thank Goodness for the small things, as they always say to check them first; thanks again to all who replied, and I printed out Cliff's repair procedure in the event that I have to replace the gears in the future........

Regards, Chris

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