Big2Bird

Hey guys. C3 guy here.
Who makes/has the best headlight motor gears? Helping a friend out.
1996 model year.

aklim

I like the brass gears since we have no clue as to how much longer they will be available. Mine looked fine when the pellets went out. A detailed inspection showed hairline cracks. There are those who want the plastic to be the sacrificial piece but I really don't see the issue. If the power draw gets too high, the controller will assume it has hit the limit and shut down power to the headlight motor.

scotth48

The gears are usually never the problem. The 3 plastic pucks just turn to sawdust.
Available on line and at auto stores like nanap or orieley's. Dorman part number, just don't have it handy at the moment but they were in stock at Oreiley's. About $ 8 per light.
Do a search and you can find a part number for them.
Don't waste your money on gears!

BillDurant

Eckler's part # is 29304

mako41

Yes agreed!

The gears virtually never need replacing on the late model C4's it's the three plastic bushings that crumble to dust.

aklim

Both of mine had hairline cracks. They worked but I don't know how much longer they would have gone. I also don't know how much longer they would be making replacement gears.

mako41

Yea we've had this discussion before.... you haven't changed your mind but bronze headlight gears in a late model C4 are completely unnecessary and in most all cases a complete waste of money.

I believe it was the earlier C4's '84~'87 that had more problems with the plastic gears wearing out and failing than the later '88~'96 C4's did. The earlier models had a 2 headlight drive gear system while the later models had one. The later model years were upgraded with smaller quieter motors. The related relays to operate the flip up headlights were reduced from three to one on the later models as well.

The metal or bronze gears were first made to fix worn out plastic gears for the earlier two gear C4's. Then the aftermarket began to make bronze replacement gears as an upgrade to the single OEM plastic gear in the later C4's although they're rarely required.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...r-plastic.html

aklim

Tell you what will change my mind. A guarantee that the plastic gears will be easily obtained for the next 30 years. Care to explain why I had to wait a couple months to get my power steering hoses and had to get some from one place and another piece from scrounging around? I really didn't like to have to make arrangements for the car to sit at a facility to wait for the hoses but you don't get to choose where you break down.

mako41

Not really sure what power steering hoses have to do with headlight gears.....But if your looking for spare set of plastic headlight gears for your late model ('88~'96) C4 I have a pair, 25 years old and in perfect shape.

PM me

aklim

I'll try to be more clear. I pretty much gave up on GM. My parts guy used to see me and say "It's obsolete. Now what can I look up for you?". As far as getting anything goes, unless it is a common platform that others are using, you ain't getting it.

I can't go clean my ABS sensors since I am afraid that if they get wrecked in the process, you aren't finding spares except on eBay where most look more ratty than mine.

I am also having issues with aftermarket vendors. Last year, I tried to get a complete set of hoses for my power steering system. I had to wait months and even then, it took shopping from 2 larger vendors before I got what I needed and they weren't sure on one of the hoses. Maybe it is, maybe not. So we had to match it up and it was close enough.

I had to call around junkyards to get a couple of pieces to complete my E-Brake system.

My point is that with the way the cars are growing older and the suppliers aren't as plentiful as they used to be, I recommended brass because plastic gets brittle over time. Maybe today we have no problem getting replacements. The same cannot be said about 5 years from now and we might have to go dumpster diving in the boneyards to maybe find some old scrap that isn't in as bad a shape as the one we have. With that in mind and the fact that to replace the pucks, you are already there, why not spend the extra and get the brass ones that are more durable than plastic? Yes, I agree it is more money today. I don't know the quality of the aftermarket offerings in plastic. I don't know if they will even have replacements 10 years from today.

Unlike my MBs, I hear the word "OBSOLETE" or "NLA" way too often so I rather spend the extra money today (within reason) while I am in there as opposed to having to go scrounging around in junkyards for "barely better than mine" parts. Some might find that activity amusing but I am not one of them. I'd much rather be driving my car than waiting for an unspecified amount of time to get a needed part.