Is there any way to put bronze bushing back in headlight motor?

[Norris W.]

I've got 4 old sets of headlight motors and not a single one that isn't tight. I've been trying to disassemble them, including spray blaster in the end away from the transmission and thorough cleaning with wire brush, but the bushing is popping out of the retainer spring on all 3 that I've done so far. Is there any way to get the bushing back in the retainer without buying the spring and cup and breaking the old stuff out? I'd actually like to take the plate off the end of the housing, but it appears to be heavily resistance welded in about 5 places.

[William L.]

Re: Is there any way to put bronze bushing back in headlight motor?

I've got 4 old sets of headlight motors and not a single one that isn't tight. I've been trying to disassemble them, including spray blaster in the end away from the transmission and thorough cleaning with wire brush, but the bushing is popping out of the retainer spring on all 3 that I've done so far. Is there any way to get the bushing back in the retainer without buying the spring and cup and breaking the old stuff out? I'd actually like to take the plate off the end of the housing, but it appears to be heavily resistance welded in about 5 places.

The only correct way is to cut the spot welds off of the end plate then drill out the spot welds on the spring retainer. If the spring is bad replace it, then re weld the assembly back together with a new retainer and weld the end plate back on. About an additional hour or so per motor + parts.
I get an additional $50 for this when I rebuild a headlight motor.
Of course you can Bubba it and use liquid nail, silicone or some other glue to hold the bearing in
If you are interested in selling the motors send me a PM.
Bill

[Gene M.]

Re: Is there any way to put bronze bushing back in headlight motor?

I had the same fingers loose against the bearing. I solved the entire issue by replacing the sleeve bearing with a low profile ball bearing loctite into the rear bearing housing after I pulled out all the finger stuff. I can't remember but I think the shaft size was perfect. They have been in there for over twenty years in my 65 and driven quite regular.

[Tim E.]

Re: Is there any way to put bronze bushing back in headlight motor?

Bill is right when he describes the correct way to fix the problem and you may end up needing to do exactly that.

If you want to try what I did to reinsert the bushings, here's an idea. I built a simple wooden jig to hold the bushing back against the spring while maintaining a small amount of pressure. Working through the armature hole in the end plate, I could then use a small screwdriver to "walk" the ears of the spring back down over the bushing, add some more pressure, "walk" a little more, etc. See the attached diagram.

Before long, the bushing slipped back into place. The bushing was a little loose since the ears of the spring had lost some of their tension in the process. I had to install 2 small screws from the endplate into the bushing to keep the bushing from rotating inside the spring (another tip I read about).

Both headlight motors functioned afterwards. I was happy with the result but did end up replacing both in preparation for a PV (couldn't get them closely syncronized).

I've loaned out this little press a couple times since so if you want to borrow it, let me know.

Tim