pattymelt3605

At first my driver’s side headlight would only come halfway up and I would have to get out of the car, turn the headlights on then manually pull up the light. After a few weeks it would not even go up or down at all. I decided to order some new brass gears. After much research I decided to buy them from www.bfranker.badz28.com

The gears from bfranker do not use the stock rubber inside the gear. Good thing, because when I pulled out the stock gear and it was fine! But the rubber bumper was destroyed! With bfrankers gears you don’t have to retain the stock rubber bumper. In this picture you can see the good stock gear on the left on the bad one on the right, also notice it broke the plastic tabs inside the gear that keep the rubber bumper from spinning:



Pic of the stock gear and stock rubber bumper:



Picture of bfrankers gear:



Installed:




Rodney Dickman's gear:



Installed with rubber bumper:



I would go with bfrankers, because with his gear it eliminates the rubber bumper. On 97-99 Corvettes the motor case unbolts with 3 bolts, but on 00+ they are sealed and with bfrankers kit he even includes the epoxy to close the motor case as does Rodneys. I am not ******* on Rodney’s gears, but I am just letting you guys know what else is out there. Bfrankers kit is $43 shipped for one gear kit, or $81 shipped for two. The install only took about 45 min and they work perfect now. More info and instructions for bfrankers gear can be found here:

http://www.bfranker.badz28.com/headlightfix/index.htm

The install is almost the same as the 93-97 Trans Am in the instructions.

Info for Rodneys gear:

http://www.rodneydickman.com/corvette.html


Patrick

Cajun99

Good post and pics..thanks!!

Mine haven't failed but I imagine they will eventually so I'll be saving this post as one of my collection of DIY "tech tips".

Grumpy

DeeGee

I already had one of mine repaired under warranty.

I agree. This is one of those write ups thats going in the archive. Thanks for taking the time to record it.

Cocked and Locked

I and a WHOLE bunch of others here have rebuilt ours with Rodney Dickman's brass gears. I choked when the dealer quoted $300 to buy and install one new headlamp actuator. These are a much better option.

pattymelt3605

Thanks guys!

madeouttaglass

Thanks for the info. I just bought some euro headlights from a forum member and he told me that I'll want this mod. He said the extra weight of the euros makes the lights bounce against the nylon gears. The things you learn here are amazing.

MyVetteDream

I know they made changes to some years (like my '03) came with aluminum end links instead of the previous nylon end links ... anyone know if they may have changed the gears or are mine still nylon? I'm thinking about getting the brass gears before my headlights fail.

T's

Great post, thanks

Vetteman Jack

Thanks for the info. I'll keep it on file for future reference.

Bill Curlee

EXCELLENT INFO!!

007Duc

I'm sure this will be helpful to me in the future. Thanks

ericdwong

Great info! So far mine are good.

The Batman

I have the Rodney Dickman gears installed, and no complaints so far, after about 8 months.

I AM a bit disappointed with myself that I didn't install the gears when the first gear broke. My passenger plastic gear broke while the car was still under warranty, so I let the dealer put in a new motor. That new motor raises the headlight faster than the old motor, so instead of a vroooom-thunk, I get vroooom-thunk-thunk when the head lights open. It's just a little annoyance, but you all know the feeling as nit-picky owners...it just bugs me.

leaftye

I didn't even know there was another gear out there. So now there are two brass gears, and a replacement plastic gear. Your comparison and pics are very helpful!

Vettlldo

What year is your vette and is this a usual problem with all C5's over time?

Z06-JIM

Very informative, thanks!

purrvert

Installed one of Rodney's gears on the drivers's side, other gear waiting in CD changer compartment. Have learned not to open lights at speed.

pattymelt3605

Mine is a 99 but ALL vettes with popup lights have this problem over time.

gsxrjack

mine started acting up a few months ago, so i ordered the brass gear, then i read that u can rotate the the shaft and use the other half of the nylon gear,(since it only uses one half of the gear and not the whole thing) saw this fix on ls1 forum, that worked great for a few months, then that stripped also...just put the brass gear in the other day and all is well....