Hi,

Yep, another question about replacing the plastic bushings in the actuator of the headlight motor, which crumble over time and reps.

I just bought the 3 bushings in the Help kit, number 74410, for $7.99 , made by Dorman, which supposedly can be used for our thirdgen cars' headlight motors. I noticed that the package says the outer diameter of each bushing is 0.595 inches.

Is this going to be too big? During my recent research on this topic I noticed some people were using 3/8 inch OD stuff, and some were using 1/2 inch OD.

These bushings are allegedly semi-soft, so they are not Delrin, I guess. The package doesn't say what the material is.

Should I grease them up with white lithium grease, or just put them in dry and clean?

Anybody use these big bushings? I guess you could just squeeze them in, since they are somewhat pliable, if they're a tight fit once everything gets put back together ???


Thanks

 

.595 seems too big from what I recall.

No grease required on assembly.

 

I bought a few inches of Delrin rod (less than $1) and cut disks of the right thickness. However, the diameter was too big. You get two in but not the third. I had to sand each one down a little. I don't remember the final size but the exact 1/2 inch was too big. What you have sounds WAY too big.

 

just get the top down solutions rebuild kit... it has everything you need and will fit without guess work.

You can buy LH RH or both.

 

If you have a piece of wooden dowel you can cut that into disks and it will work beautifully. At least several times. Then you have to clean out the sawdust and use Delrin anyway. TDS is the easiest way even if not the cheapest.

 

Thanks for the replies. Even though the package says the bushings are 0.59 inches in diameter, I measured them with a ruler, and they are just under a half inch. Maybe they shrank over time in the box. Anyway, I opened the package, and plopped them into their 3 spots in the white plastic gear, and tried to put on the metal part, and the 3 bushings were in the way of the metal part. Not quite enough room. I thought oh no, I'll have to cut them, or find something smaller. Then I remembered seeing a video on Youtube in which the guy inserts the 3 bushings, then just presses both halves of the assembly together, and they came together nice and snug, with the bushings inside. So I wiggled the metal piece around some, and the 2 halves started to move together! I pushed some more, and they went right together, slowly, smoothly, nice and snug.

These Dorman bushings are pretty soft and also have a very slight rounding at the shoulders, so maybe that's why they can be molded into the right places with just a bit of pressure.