So I started with a bad drivers side headlight...it stuck up & made lou obnoxious noises when unlocked. Fixed it by replacing plastic gears with copper ones. NOW here is the fun part. THE PASSENGER side headlight's gear housing keeps popping open so it will not turn the motor. We have used every kind of glue & epoxy to fix this and the plastic cap just keeps popping off. The driver side works fine after using same materials & proceedure. Something else has got to be malfunctioning to cause this...ANYONE?

 

Copper is too soft.
Do you mean brass?

 

WELD IT! Just kidding. Yes, I am sure he means the brass ones, they do look somewhat like copper, being a copper alloy.
What types of glue have you been trying?
Is there some sort of pressure being applied to it, something out of alignment, perhaps?
Also, did you make sure that the mating surfaces were completely clean and smooth?

 

Brass. I did make sure the surfaces were smooth & clean - we have looked for something out of alignment and found nothing. I am going to pull it apart again this weekend, and see if I notice anything different. I used every epoxy from 30 min to 1 minute set...but I am trying Gorilla glue this last time. I don't want to spend 250 on an assembly but...

 

I used 2 very small c-clamps to keep the motor casing together, not one issue since then. I recommend doing it this way to everyone. Use some eposy and the clamps and be done with it.

 

New ac delco / gm motors can be had for $100 to $140. Call your local ac delco parts store or get one shipped from ebay or gmpartsdirect.com. I didn't feel like messing with it twice, so new motor for me. Also, NAPA sells the plastic type gear for $11. Just search the NAPA site for 'headlight motor gear'.

 

Maybe use some of the smaller zip/wire ties and really lock them down. Use some channel locks or something to really grip on the end before you cut it off.

My pass side motor is completely missing the damn cover. I did the brass gears thing about a year ago, and it started giving me trouble a couple months back. I went in to check the motor out, and apparently it fell out on the road somewhere

 

find some epoxy that is not a quick set something that needs overnight to set. when i bought mine from bfranker he sent some epoxy that needs to sit overnight because the other stuff never held the back on. hope this helps you at all.

 

Just spreading the word as I just found out about these. HELP (motormite, Dorman) makes a replacement plastic headlight gear for about 15 bucks. Autozone can order them, but it may take a few days to get them in. Part # 42400.



https://www.dormanproducts.com/cgi-b...tegory_list=:0

Does NAPA carry them also? Cool.

Check this thread for a brace to hold the cover on or make your own brace.
https://ls1tech.com/forums/showpost....2&postcount=22