1977 Sun-Visors hard to swivel - any way to "loosen"?

[Oliver B.]

Hi!
Both of my 1977's sun-visors sit very firmly on their rods and are very hard to swivel "in action" (I got accustomed to grabbing them near their rods and apply quite some force at the "plate" that can be felt instead of "bending" them from their "flap-end").
(Btw: swivelling them towards the side windows is easily done...)

Any hints, how I might loosen them A LITTLE (all I want to avoid is getting them SO loose, they do not stay up any longer ) - can they be slipped off from the rod and lubed some way?

Thanks for your recommendations.

[Michael B.]

Re: 1977 Sun-Visors hard to swivel - any way to "loosen"?

It might be best to unscrew them from the window frame and softly clamp them in a vise. The attachments are pins and can be pulled out from each end. You should be able to work them out with a soft jawed pair of pliers or something of the sort. Maybe a small screw driver in the screw hole to give you some turning leverage as you pull the pin out.

When you get them off, clean them up and apply some Vasoline to the pins and reinstall.

[Pat M.]

Re: 1977 Sun-Visors hard to swivel - any way to "loosen"?

Also, if it's similar to 70 visors, sometimes the shaft that the pins fit in get crushed a little so the pins can't move freely. You can use pliers to gently reshape the shaft if this is part of the problem. Good luck.

[Joe L.]

Re: 1977 Sun-Visors hard to swivel - any way to "loosen"?

Hi!
Both of my 1977's sun-visors sit very firmly on their rods and are very hard to swivel "in action" (I got accustomed to grabbing them near their rods and apply quite some force at the "plate" that can be felt instead of "bending" them from their "flap-end").
(Btw: swivelling them towards the side windows is easily done...)

Any hints, how I might loosen them A LITTLE (all I want to avoid is getting them SO loose, they do not stay up any longer ) - can they be slipped off from the rod and lubed some way?

Thanks for your recommendations.

Oliver----


I can tell you that the sunvisors on my 69 have been as you described since the day my car was first delivered to me new.

[Alan D.]

Re: 1977 Sun-Visors hard to swivel - any way to "loosen"?

Oliver,
All I did on my 77 was to lubricate with WD-40 on occasion. The WD-40 will not hurt anything and you won't have to remove the pesky mounting retainers and springs on the windshield frame. Try it.
Al Dieterle

[Steven B.]

Re: 1977 Sun-Visors hard to swivel - any way to "loosen"?

Oliver----


I can tell you that the sunvisors on my 69 have been as you described since the day my car was first delivered to me new.

Oliver, same on my '77 I ordered. I moved them once just to check in late '76 and they were very hard to move. 'haven't touched them since.

Steve

[Dale S.]

Re: 1977 Sun-Visors hard to swivel - any way to "loosen"?

Better up than falling down when you hit a bump. Dale

[Oliver B.]

Re: 1977 Sun-Visors hard to swivel - any way to "loosen"?

ABSOLUTELY, Dale!
And a big THANK YOU for everybody's responses.

Letting me know that that might have been the way they have come from the factory, produced me quite a smile...

Okay, so what I might do as a start is giving the rods a WD-40 treatment.
I do not have the application before my eye - I guess you mean to spray the rod where it enters the "leather", right?

Disassembly is a little over the top for me - at least at this stage - seeing that as is might be the "original way" and considering the risk of them "drooping" eventually.
But THANKS for the valuable info how the mechanism works!

[Oliver B.]

Re: 1977 Sun-Visors hard to swivel - any way to "loosen"?

...Just another one: when I bought the car (in 1992) there was a transparent green movable screen (as seen in aircraft cockpits) attached (clipped on-) to the driver's side visor to defend setting Florida sun.
That did quite a job but as it was not original and wore some scratches meanwhile, I took it off and put it into the "Corvette-related" box....

The previous owner's need to attach that screen might be a hint that the visor never swivelled too well.........

[Michael B.]

Re: 1977 Sun-Visors hard to swivel - any way to "loosen"?

I just want to add a word of caution with the WD-40.

The visors are built with a metal piece that grips the pins looped around and stapled to the edge of a flat piece of fiberboard. Whenever you move a visor you should always grip the edge near the pins and rotate the visor. Two hands are recommended. With a little age the piviots get stiff and it is easy to break the visor's internal fiberboard if you try moving it by the outside edge.

WD-40 has high solvent, low lubrication properties. I would be concerned with squirting this stuff in the pin area and have the solvents wick into the fiberboard and desolve the glue binder. It's only two screws to take it off to work the pins out.

[Clem Z.]

Re: 1977 Sun-Visors hard to swivel - any way to "loosen"?

Oliver,
All I did on my 77 was to lubricate with WD-40 on occasion. The WD-40 will not hurt anything and you won't have to remove the pesky mounting retainers and springs on the windshield frame. Try it.
Al Dieterle

or silicone spray