bgood71

I just replaced the bushings and motor housing in my pull down motor, and now it pulls the hatch down to tight. It draws down so tight that it sounds like the motor is going to break and it is very difficult to open with the key, and the elect release wont open it.

Is there a way to adjust the motor itself? I have the assembly as high as it will go but it still pulls the hatch down way to tightly. Anyone got any tips for this? All help and suggestions welcome.

Chrisry1995

iTrader: (1)

You need to take apart the unit again and turn the plastic "screw/nut" out a turn. That is what connects to the rod that pulls the whole unit up and down. You need to unsrew it so the rod don't pull down that far. You can adjust that to vary where the the rod starts and ends the travel.There should be a "tech" article on hatch pull-down motor repair. Go to home page and then in left colum you'll see a link to the tech articles. Let me know if need more info/help. Been there/done that too!!!

lonsal

iTrader: (2)

NO, NO, NO. Yes there is a tech article, I wrote it. The stroke of the pull-down motor is controlled by the two tabs on the lift rod. They turn off the up or down cycle by flipping the reversing switch. Disassembling and turning out the gear nut will do absolutely nothing. Your problem is that the entire pull-down assembly is too mounted too low.

Here's the correct way to fix it. Mark the current location of the frame of the pull-down assy to the body using a permanent marker or scratch-awl. This will give you a starting point to know how far you've adjusted it. I recommend in my instructions to mark the location before removing the unit for repair, but were past that point now. Loosen the three 13mm scres that attach the pull-down assy to the body and adjust it up. Tighten the screws and test the pull-down unit. You want to adjust it to the point that it pulls down and you hear the CLICK of the reversing switch being tripped to shut off the cycle. There should be NO strain or slowing down of the motor whatsoever before you hear that CLICK.

Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions

https://www.thirdgen.org/tech/hatchpulldown.pdf

bgood71

. Loosen the three 13mm scres that attach the pull-down assy to the body and adjust it up. Tighten the screws and test the pull-down unit.

Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions

https://www.thirdgen.org/tech/hatchpulldown.pdf[/QUOTE]



I marked it before removing and have adjusted it up as high as it will go. With the hatch open the pulldown doesn't look like it is high enough, barely comes up past the trim.

Chrisry1995

iTrader: (1)

Hey Lon.
Step 5 on installing the hatch pulldown section on page 7
"If adjusting it fails to solve the problem, then the unit will need to be disassembled and the gear nut rotated one turn on the lift-rod and reassembled".
This is where I gave him the information from. Could you please tell me and begood what you mean in that statement? It seems from his first post and follow-up that he did move the whole unit up as far as it will go and it still don't work correctly. That's why I qouted you about the gear-nut.
I looked at mine, and when it's all the way up, the top of the latch mech. is about 1/8" above the metal ridge where the weather strip for trunk mounts on. How far is yours Begood? Also double check your work. Mine is about in the middle of the mounting holes and I've had 2 different ones on the car and they both where the same as far as mounting. Are you SURE everything is back together properly? I'll keep looking for some better/clearer pictures of the assembly, but the info I give is going to be from others, so I hope it's the correct info I spit back to you.

Chrisry1995

iTrader: (1)

I don't mean to be an a**-hole at all here. I just don't understand this article . When disassembling the unit,step 6: "Remove the gear nut,wavewasher and bearing. Count the number of turns it takes to remove the gear nut (around 8 revolutions) and write it down." and then Assembling the Hatch Pull-Down Unit: step 2: "Assemble the bearing and gear nut onto the lift rod. Turn the gear nut the same number of revolutions as when you disassembled it."
Why would you need to do that if it don't matter???????
Bgood, Maybe you should just try backing out the nut and see what happens. You can't hurt nothing and then you will know!!! Like I said, I'm just repeating what I read here, but it seems to me that the gear nut IS important as far as the number of turns because Lon mentioned it 3 times in this article. Please let me know what you find. I'm just trying to help here, not cause any problems with a moderator.

lonsal

iTrader: (2)

Sorry guys. I need to update the tech article. I wrote it just one month shy of 6 years ago. I know a bit more about how it functions now than I knew then. It doesn't matter how many turns your original gear nut had. Back then I thought there was some sort of limit switch. There isn't. There is a reason why you should install the gear nut with 7-8 revolutions, but it isn't anything to do with somehow setting or adjusting the height of the pull-down unit. It is so the two tabs are located in the correct height so you can easily install the reversing switch onto the motor housing. Thank you both for pointing out that I need to update both my Tech Article and the instructions I include with my guides. They both STILL mention the disassemble and turn out the gear nut one turn. This is a needless wast of your time, since as I've recently explained it won't have any effect on how far the pull-down goes in either direction. That is all controlled by those two tabs on the lift rod. Again, sorry for any inconvenience my written instructions caused. It will be corrected shortly. I hope this clarifies it. Now just who do I contact about getting the new revision of the Tech Article swapped for the old one?

Lon Salgren

Chrisry1995

iTrader: (1)

No worries, Lon. With that being said, Do you have any idea what could be the problem? I did mine awhile back and don't remember how the thing works exactly. I get the switches and such, but I didn't study the thing to know exactly where the tabs are to trigger the stop switches. That metal flange that sticks out on the lift rod next to the big pin you take out to disassemble, is that what triggers the down stop switch? I just took a peek at mine, but didn't take off the plastic cover so I can't see everything. And could he bend that down to trigger it sooner maybe. Is there any tabs that can be moved or the switches themself be adjusted. Possable to JB weld alittle something on the tab to hit the switch sooner.Just thinking out loud I'd like for him to fix it correctly and not have to Jerry-Rig the thing.
Bgood, If you still have problem, let me know!!! I can take mine off and study the thing so I can help you out better. Willing to take pictures and measurements if you need. I'll help you out the best I can.

lonsal

iTrader: (2)

Yes those are the tabs I'm referring to. By bending them in you'll shorten the stroke, but in his case the stroke is already too short. Also putting JB weld on the tabs also shortens the stroke. I suspect his problem is that the clear plastic motor housing is brioken where the 3 screws mount it to the frame. That is best diagnosed by removing the rear hatch surround trim panel. However, you can do a quick rough diagnosis by grabbiing hold of the latch portion of the pull-down unit. Try moving it up and down. If you get substantial movement then there is breakage as I've descrived. If you get movement side-to-side of front-to-back them the guides are broken and need to be replaced.

Lon

bgood71

As I stated in the original post, the motor housing was replaced. It is a reinforced housing from topdownsolutions. I saw an old pulldown assembly in my shed that needs to be repaired, but I may be able to use it as a comparision. I'll try to get them both on the bench in the next day or two and get this figured out. Thanks for the help this far and any other ideas would still be helpful.