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I received my headlight GM repair kit and since it's only 40 degrees out today I thought I'd give it a try. I watched all those videos both long and short but wnted to go to the well and ask this. Since my GM housing uses the three bolt setup, bolts that are easily accessible, do I really have to go through all those other steps or can I just remove the three bolts, take out the old gear and it's related parts and install the new gear??????
I believe the two section of the housing holding the gears are also glued together, the 3 bolts just hold them in place. I haven’t done mine in a long time but that is what my old brain remembers.
I believe the two section of the housing holding the gears are also glued together, the 3 bolts just hold them in place. I haven’t done mine in a long time but that is what my old brain remembers.
Thats what I thought but I'd also heard that the there were 2 styles of motors............the glued and the bolted.................even so, once the bolts are removed, prying the cover off if it is glued should be fairly easy............
I have the 3 bolt style. No glue holding them on. The passenger side you should be able to take the bolts out and change the gear. Be careful of small washer/spacers though. The drivers side I had to take off the whole mechanism because the 3 bolts were behind structure. Hopefully they sent new gaskets with the kit.
It’s about 15 minutes to pull the assembly. Just make sure to note(take pictures) the position/orientation of the lifting arm. Also, before you take the gear housing apart, mark the orientation of the shaft flat spot and put it back together the exact same way. This will ensure the lifting arm will line up in the correct position.
The worst part of the whole thing is removing the nut on the headlight pivot bolt. It’s a tiny nut that is realllllly hard to unscrew. This nut is truly the only PIA of the whole operation. I went to the hardware store for regular nylocks to use for reassembly. Unfortunately, the screw itself needs to be reused because it has a special machine shoulder (don’t lose it).
One tool you’ll want if you take this on, is a folding torx set. GM was very clever in placing the hinge torx screws in a place where a small ratchet or torx screwdriver won’t fit.
Also circled is a good old nyloc nut in place of the pos loctited tiny 5mm nut.
Thanks for the help. Since it's my passengers side I'm just going to remove the gear cap using the three bolts and replace the gear that way. I realize after reading your post that I will need to note the position of the small shaft end.........................
can it be done this way?
