Headlight Gears: Franker Gear vs. GM gears and how long did it take?
10-14-2007, 11:46 PM
#1
NCM Bash 2008-2018
Thread Starter
Member Since: Jul 1999
Location: Granby, MA Talladega Super Speedway Vettes 4 Vets Ambassador
Posts: 9,008
Received 75 Likes
on
60 Posts
Middle TN Events Coordinator
Cruise-In 1, 3, 9. 10 & 11 Veteran
Headlight Gears: Franker Gear vs. GM gears and how long did it take?
I was wondering who bought a brass franker gear and how long it took for you to get? I am planning on buying one but would like to get it asap.
any input would be great.....
Also anybody who bought this gear ever find out why his gear don't need the rubber piece? I meant why is that rubber piece in there to begin with? Was GM just not thinking? My C5 chewd the crap out of that rubber and my C4 ate the crap out of the plastic bushings. I honestly wonder who at GM was designing the headlights and couldn't get it right over 2 decades of corvettes?
I would love to hear some reasoning here.
Jeff
any input would be great.....
Also anybody who bought this gear ever find out why his gear don't need the rubber piece? I meant why is that rubber piece in there to begin with? Was GM just not thinking? My C5 chewd the crap out of that rubber and my C4 ate the crap out of the plastic bushings. I honestly wonder who at GM was designing the headlights and couldn't get it right over 2 decades of corvettes?
I would love to hear some reasoning here.
Jeff
10-15-2007, 02:05 AM
#2
Melting Slicks
From what I can see, the rubber must act as a dampener of some sort. I replaced one of my gears recently with Rodney Dickman's kit instead, for a few reasons, and I'm glad I did:
1) Rodney's gear is a brass copy of the GM nylon gear, which maintains use of the rubber "dampener". As you probably already know, Franken's brass gear is solid, as are GM's nylon gear, and Rodney's, but Franken's gear eliminates the rubber piece. FWIW, both times that my headlight gears stripped, I opened the motors quite soon after the problem started, and the rubber pieces were still like new. I think the only reason they get chewed up is once a gear is really bad and over time starts jumping around in the housing. In either case, Rodney's kit includes the rubber.
2) Rodney's latest kits include what now appears to be THE best adhesive to bond the later model housings back together. Apparently, the housings are nylon which means without the correct properties in the adhesive, it's only a matter of time before the adhesive gives. I know, because I did a repair using the best darned expoxy I could find, even after researching what was available, which held for about a year, until recently when it finally gave out, resulting in a separated motor cover which promptly caused 4 teeth on a GM nylon gear to get eaten (I had previously done a re-positioing-of-the-GM-gear-fix, a la Franken, which would've been fine if the adhesive hadn't given out).
3) Rodney's kit also includes a specially-designed t-brace which keeps constant pressure on the motor hosuing cover to further ensure that the cover stays in place, because the stock design relies solely on the adhesive keeping the cover from getting torqued off the housing.
4) Rodney has been constantly developing his kit to be better, and he actually cares about his customers, and their satisfaction. At least, that was my perception when I dealt with him. He really went the extra mile for me, in more ways than one, even though I only made one special request.
And, no, I am not affiliated in any way with Rodney, nor have I dealt with Franken, just wanted add my experience to the guess I made in answer to your question, and give credit where credit is due.
1) Rodney's gear is a brass copy of the GM nylon gear, which maintains use of the rubber "dampener". As you probably already know, Franken's brass gear is solid, as are GM's nylon gear, and Rodney's, but Franken's gear eliminates the rubber piece. FWIW, both times that my headlight gears stripped, I opened the motors quite soon after the problem started, and the rubber pieces were still like new. I think the only reason they get chewed up is once a gear is really bad and over time starts jumping around in the housing. In either case, Rodney's kit includes the rubber.
2) Rodney's latest kits include what now appears to be THE best adhesive to bond the later model housings back together. Apparently, the housings are nylon which means without the correct properties in the adhesive, it's only a matter of time before the adhesive gives. I know, because I did a repair using the best darned expoxy I could find, even after researching what was available, which held for about a year, until recently when it finally gave out, resulting in a separated motor cover which promptly caused 4 teeth on a GM nylon gear to get eaten (I had previously done a re-positioing-of-the-GM-gear-fix, a la Franken, which would've been fine if the adhesive hadn't given out).
3) Rodney's kit also includes a specially-designed t-brace which keeps constant pressure on the motor hosuing cover to further ensure that the cover stays in place, because the stock design relies solely on the adhesive keeping the cover from getting torqued off the housing.
4) Rodney has been constantly developing his kit to be better, and he actually cares about his customers, and their satisfaction. At least, that was my perception when I dealt with him. He really went the extra mile for me, in more ways than one, even though I only made one special request.
And, no, I am not affiliated in any way with Rodney, nor have I dealt with Franken, just wanted add my experience to the guess I made in answer to your question, and give credit where credit is due.
Last edited by MrLeadFoot; 10-15-2007 at 02:09 AM.
10-15-2007, 08:26 AM
#3
Instructor
Member Since: Jun 2006
Location: Houston Texas
Posts: 215
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I used Rodney's kit about a month ago and it solved the prolem 
and shipping was quick i got it in about 4 days. I believe the rubber bushing in his kit is made of some other type or rubber that is suppose to be more durable, and the t brace is great since it removes the pressure from the adhesive. 
