I got scared when I read that I'd have to come at the light from under the nose. I have the jacks, but what a pita just for such a common problem. So I took another look.

I grabbed some rags and stuffed them in around the headlight cover openings so as the assembly moved, the nice painted surface would not be scratched or marred.

Grabbed my philips and T15 and took off any screws I could from the back and inner side of the assembly.

With that done, I could shift the painted portion up enough to reach the two rear retaining bolts for the assembly (pictured) and get a combination of tools on them to remove.

If you take your time and are careful, you can do this without issue. Likewise, I was able to move the assembly enough to get the outer side screw and T15 out and get the cover safely off before going deeper.

Then just get the 10mm nut off the headlight motor and you can get the whole assembly free.

All told, pretty easy.

Check out the demolition of the factory plastic gear. Not sure what happened first, but the center of the gear itself was popped out and the rubber fitting was shredded.









Note:: After dealing with Eckler's for almost TWO MONTHS as they continued to ship mismatched parts (I have yet to be refunded for parts they have had back in their hands for over a month)....

I am PLEASED to say that service from Rodney Dickman was IMPECCABLE. I had two sets of the correct parts in-hand within 48 hours.

 

I was under the understanding that you can turn the **** on the back of the motor to raise a headlight in the event that it fails to go up under electric control. I tried that on one of my headlight motors and turning the know failed to raise the headlight. Not only that but a plastic tab that is part of the know and is a square drive that is inserted into the shaft of the motor broke off from the excessive twisting force. Do I not understand that this is what these are supposed to do?

 

this will work in some cases but it looks like his gear is completely toast so basically the gear is just freewheeling on the worm drive (this is what turns when you turn the manual ****)... it looks like the outside of the gear has separated from the center so there is no way to transfer the torque to raise the headlight

 

I'd say that gear was pretty messed up. Nice that you were able to make the repair yourself.

 

The manual **** would work if the gear assembly were intact. Since it was broken internally, there was no way to do this.

It also explains why, when I tried raising the assembly by hand (lifting) and again with a pry bar from underneath (from engine side with hood up) that it would not move enough to catch a good gear... the problem was not that the gear was stripped - they were all fine - just that the gear was shattered.

Now my dilemma is how to correctly wire between CorvetteMods ballasts, Ebay ACA headlight assembly, and factory to get it all to work how I want.


NOTE:: In the pic of the shattered gear I have a set of replacement screws for the two rear ones on each assembly which it pivots on. I highly recommend ordering a set before working on headlight areas if you haven't worked those connections recently. I went in the first time last Fall when I got the car and killed two. This was going hand tight trying to slowly work them loose and in both cases the torx head snapped off. I found reasonable replacements to jury rig with over the winter, but these I believe I got from JWM and they are spot on. ALSO... they have square heads to work with... no more torx headaches or fear of stripping. My version of finger tight is apparently more than some.

 

Thanks. I held off a bit waiting for clutch to come in. Taking the week to fully update and then detail her. Tons of small fixes (38 on the list and climbing), but the key ones are HUD, head unit, and McLeod twin disc.

Also - now that I've done it to both motors on my car, if anyone is in the area and wants a hand or some guidance, I'm reachable.