I just bought the used parts for $25.00 to fix my pull down motor!!!

Sorry, I just had to gloat a bit about it. I think the going price is to the tune of $100 on up to $425 for a brand new unit.

)

 

What condition are the plastic guides? I make new ones if you need a set. E-mail me if you are interested. Good luck, Lon.

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90 RS Convertible
Owner: Top-Down Solutions
(626)369-0040

http://www.sc3gfb.org/members/lonsal.html
http://www.taskerinc.com/gs3/profiles/Lon_profile.htm

 

I just bought one from IrocZDave and should be getting it sometime nextweek. I paid only $50 for the complete unit. Can't wait to replace my broken unit. If anyone wants to buy my old unit and rebuild it I'm selling it.

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1991 Pontiac Firebird V6 W68
Pioneer DEH-7000R, Pioneer 6X9 4way/4X6 2way speakers, MTX 250watt amp, MTX 400watt sub, custom intake, Flowmaster dual exhaust 80 series, PIAA HID headlamp conversions, custom tail lamps(regular F-bird but amber is now red), many more to list...

 

I bought one from Iroczdave too! He's great to deal with, but make sure you mark where the old one was bolted first...I learned the hard way !!! I also had to switch my remote release unit from my old unit to the new one...which was easy!!!

 

I'd like to shoot the moron that designed those things. In the 50s, GM engineers were able to design a V8 with enough quality and simplicity that it took 40 years to be improved upon.

Then there's the idiots that designed those things. How in the hell can they make such a complicated, bulky design for such a simple task????????????????? All they need is a goddamned motor to push and pull a hatch 2 inches! They come up with that awful contraption, and to make matters worse, they put it in a location that's prone to water, and they make all of the stationary parts out of steel and all moving parts out of plastic. Way to go.

The very first time I opened the hatch on my GTA, the motor came up and never went back down. I had to completely disassemble that piece of crap in order to get the assembly down. Then I scarfed the assembly out of my Sport Coupe and did a switch-a-roo.

With the one from the sport coupe in the GTA, it lasted for about 10 open/close rounds before it bit the dust. The car wasted 2 motors without ever leaving my yard.

I spent today taking apart the 2nd motor so that I could close the hatch. I now have 3 thirdgens, and none of them have a power hatch motor.

------------------

The IROC Homepage
<A HREF="http://www.rit.edu/~jli4307/camaro" TARGET=_blank>
View the restoration of an 85 IROC</A>
Custom Thirdgen Subwoofer Enclosures
"I didn't know a bored out Ford could go so slow" -Shenandoah

 

One of the big problems with these pulldown units is that people are used to slamming their trunk lids down. That's a BIG NO-NO with these. It's almost a sure way of screwing them up. You have to lower the lid then gently engage it. Proper adjustment is also essential. Pulling down too far will strain it.

 

is it feasable to retro-fit into my 84? i'd like to have one. or am I a dip**** and the thing just never pulled down. I know it never has, and the car's been sitting for two years for big plans now.

 

Cy feel very lucky to not have one of those contraptions....ive had to tie my hatch down three times cause i stopped in a parking lot to take out my t-tops and it never worked after that. mine is now welded in the up position and the motor is gone (man it feels good to smash that bit after it causes all that trouble)
Snuffit

 

hey Jim do you feel better? hehehe
I know where you are coming from on that...It just caught me off gaurd... hehehe

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click below to check out the new Formula Source....
www.theformulasource.com

or click below to check out my Formula350.......
www.formula350.com

or click below to email me
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No. The cars that never came with it had a totally different setup. You would have to cut out the bracketry that your non-powered latch is bolted to, then weld in the bracketry that the power unit is attached to. You would also need a new plastic cover piece. I looked into it in my 85 and decided that it was a total waste of time.


------------------

The IROC Homepage
<A HREF="http://www.rit.edu/~jli4307/camaro" TARGET=_blank>
View the restoration of an 85 IROC</A>
Custom Thirdgen Subwoofer Enclosures
"I didn't know a bored out Ford could go so slow" -Shenandoah

 

My 1987 IROC-Z dose not have a one of these, or maybe it is rigged up so it does need one?! It is fully loaded and i have never heard the motor but i think the hatch rattles a little, could some one give me so insight on this or what to look for.....
Thanks


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1987 Black 305 TPI 5spd IROC, seems to be fully loaded, but can't find RPO codes.

AIM: IROC 5spd

 

Pull the plastic cover piece off and look at the latch mechanism. It'll either be a simple latch, or a cluster f**k with a motor housing at the bottom. Yours should be the latter.



------------------

The IROC Homepage
<A HREF="http://www.rit.edu/~jli4307/camaro" TARGET=_blank>
View the restoration of an 85 IROC</A>
Custom Thirdgen Subwoofer Enclosures
"I didn't know a bored out Ford could go so slow" -Shenandoah

 

Mine goes down stops for a second and then goes back up. Ahhh this sucks.

 

Ok, my car is at the shop right now getting ready for the dreaded NJ Inpection Station....dun dun dun......but if it is a motor is there a way to get it just to be a latch, i don't have the money for that damn thing nor for a replacement of a replacment one, With all the problems I hear i don't want the damn thing.

 

Where'd you get the kit to rebuild it?

 

I purchased the parts from TA Creations. Their web site is www.tacreationsusa.com

They have complete rebuilt units for $100 including everything. I just needed the motor and the switch. They usually don't sell it seprate, however.

 

I got mine to just latch.
first,mark the location of the 3 bolts holding on the whole unit ( so you can put it back in the right spot, I learned the hard way!!!) Next, remove the 3 bolts so you can better access the motor remove the motor...I don't remember exactly how, but it was easy to do. With the motor removed...you should be able to see the PLASTIC (stupid design there!) gear. Re- attach the whole unit minus the motor. Now you can use a flat head screwdriver to turn the plastic gear...which in turn raises or lowers the latching mechanism. It takes awhile to raise it or lower it, but once it is where you want it...it won't move. Keep in mind, I imagine the screwdriver isn't good for that plastic gear...but in my case, it was already stripped. Second, if the latch is too high...the hatch won't be shut all the way...but if it's too low...it takes a quite a slam to close. I only opened it if it was absolutely neccesary.
This proccess worked for me for about 3 weeks until I got the replacement. I wouldn't recommend keeping it for long.
Hope this helps...

 

My Sport Coupe has been like that for about a year now with no problems. Just make sure you adjust it so that you don't need to slam the snot out of it. If you look at the design, there's a stop for the assembly so it can only go down so far. I slid it down that far so that the stress would be on that pad instead of on the plastic gears. So far so good.

------------------

The IROC Homepage
<A HREF="http://www.rit.edu/~jli4307/camaro" TARGET=_blank>
View the restoration of an 85 IROC</A>
Custom Thirdgen Subwoofer Enclosures
"I didn't know a bored out Ford could go so slow" -Shenandoah

 

Anything mechanical will eventually wear out. The parts to rebuild these hatch pull-down assy's are available. I don't understand why I read so often that the hatch pull-down is being rendered useless, rather than being repaired. Sure the design has some weak points, (such as the motor housing). But these can be overcome. The housing is available from GM and can be reinforced at the screw boss mount locations. The plastic gear nut is available from GM. I have replacement plastic guides available. So why are these units being bypassed? Are you guys too lazy to repair them, or just not aware of the replacement parts being available? I'm just trying to understand the logic going on here. An analogy of this taken to extreme: If the door starts to sag, damaging the gfx. Do you guys repair the door hinges? Or do you weld up the door and climb through the window?

 

Well you see, A lot of car with hatches don't have this motor and get away fine without it, I personally don't see teh need for such a motor b/c it is EXPENSIVE to replace, unlike hindges which can be cheap and all cars have hindges, there is not logaical way around it, but that rebuild kit interests me, can i get an URL for it?

 

hatch motors suck, still.

i fix the housing, the gear strips, and only been slammed three tiems in two years.........

lol, anyone havea motor gear lieing around?


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91 FireBird 305 V-8
Edelbrock Catback, Custom Alarm. Fourth Gen Console. i have six cupholders. all for starbucks!
Go|)Created The Earth, And Then Turned Up The Bass.
Here's My Audio Install!

"Honda's FOR ME TO POOP ON!" -Triumph...

 

The gear nut is GM p/n 20160587. $5 from the dealer.

 

Fix it, break it. Fix it, break it. Disable it, problem solved!!!



------------------

The IROC Homepage
<A HREF="http://www.rit.edu/~jli4307/camaro" TARGET=_blank>
View the restoration of an 85 IROC</A>
Custom Thirdgen Subwoofer Enclosures
"I didn't know a bored out Ford could go so slow" -Shenandoah

 

Hmm... I'll take my turn.

I once had an 83 Camaro, since the hatch pulldown motor didn't come around till 86, it had a standard latch. EVERY time I opened the hatch, it had to be slammed 5-6 times to get it to close. Or you could open one of the side doors, or roll down the window. The reason for the hatch pulldown isn't just because its cool, (it is by the way), its because the hatch is huge. Its heavy too. When slamming the large GLASS hatch you have the risk of the glass breaking. Also since the hatch is shaped the way it is, when you slam it, you're trying to compress air into the interior of the car. So, GM got smart and gave us this nice, cool way to close our trunks without looking like jackasses. I've got 4 cars now with pulldown hatch motors, 3 of the early design, and the other is the late design. All have been well used, and all work exactly as they're designed.

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Drew
predatorman@hotmail.com
83 Camaro 5.0L *1995-98*
87 Iroc 5.7L
91 Formula 5.7L 14.3@98mph
91 RS Convertible 5.0L
91 Firebird 3.1L 17.00@82mph *Gtech*
92 S10 2.8L For Sale!
98 Grand Am GT 3.1L

 

Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention how cool it was, or how super killer sweet I looked when I'd discover the hatch wasn't latched while driving down a busy street. Nothing quite as cool as getting out to slam my hatch 7 or 8 times while people honk and wave. Add 6-8 inches of snow and a 30 mph wind and -10* windchill and you really start to love the uncomplicated simple latch.

 

My 85 closes just fine on the first try every time.

------------------

The IROC Homepage
<A HREF="http://www.rit.edu/~jli4307/camaro" TARGET=_blank>
View the restoration of an 85 IROC</A>
Custom Thirdgen Subwoofer Enclosures
"I didn't know a bored out Ford could go so slow" -Shenandoah

 

I got fed up with the damned non-working pieces of **** in both my 87Z and old IROC and just rigged it up to disable the pulldown. Took the motor off and ran the assembly all the way down and then ran a couple frigging bolts all the way through the rails or whatever to hold it down permanently, LOL. Then I just adjusted the positioning of the whole thing by way of the play you get from the square mounting holes and bingo. No more pulldown, shuts everytime like my old 85 IROC without the pulldown did. To hell with the pulldown...

------------------
Ray87Z
-Vortec headed 350.
86 IROC w/ a cammed 305 TPI.
Formerly Ray86IROC.
www.inter-scape.com/Ray

[This message has been edited by Ray87Z (edited October 04, 2001).]

 

I've had 2 cars with the pulldown motor. 1 never failed, the other failed once, I disabled it till I could fix it, and now it works perfect again! I like it. I think GM could've designed the gear to be metal instead of plastic...but no big deal really.

 

In case anyone wanted to see a pic of the nylon replacement guide kit I make for the hatch pull-down assy's. I'm selling them for $12.50. E-mail me if interested.

http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/topdownso...view=t&.last=1

------------------
90 RS Convertible
Owner: Top-Down Solutions
(626)369-0040

http://www.sc3gfb.org/members/lonsal.html
http://www.taskerinc.com/gs3/profiles/Lon_profile.htm

 

Mine gets stuck in the up position occasionally. But it has nothing to do with the motor failing. It just wont go back down for some reason. So I stick my finger in it to make it go back down, wait for it to come back up then put the hatch on it again. It isnt always a big deal.....
James