I installed Rodney's bushings 5 years ago, but now those have failed so I'm thinking I'd like to do a more permanent fix. I saw a Fiero in a junkyard once that had ball bearings instead of the plastic bushings and I thought that was a great idea. But what size do I need? I found a place online to order them but they are fairly expensive ($25.00 for 10) so I'd prefer to no thave to order a few sizes to be sure I get the right ones. I could take mine apart and measure, but before I did that I thought I'd just see if anyone already knew.

Thanks,
Amber

hold on...

They were like 11 or 12mm, I've got one at home I can measure but I won't be able to post until Monday. One of the purposes those bushings serve is to absorb shockloads in the geartrain when the headlight mechanism hits the up and down stops. Using metal parts in there will cause the gears to prematurely fail, much like the 84-86 gears strip once their green shock absorbing bushings turn to powder. One trick I saw used by Jim with the tunnel ram '84 was finding plastic salad spoons at the dollar store with the right diameter handle and using a saw to cut the handle into pieces that fit right in place of the original bushings.

JazzMan

I'd use the proper busings. They are a designed failure point or weak link so that you do not damage more expensive parts like the gears.

go to the local auto parts store, get the Ford bushing for headlight motors.
i use them on the red car.

the plastic spoon handle sounds like a good idea.

[This message has been edited by Tom Slick (edited 04-18-2008).]

I used 1/2 plastic cylinders that I found in the hardware isle at Lowes. Has worked great for years. They are a little tight but work.

Hmm, interesting ideas. I wandered around many a store yesterday looking for something/ anything else to use. I got some decorative beads I was considering but they are 13mm so I'm guessing they will be too big.

I saw the plastic hardware cylinders you're probably talking about Chris, I considered getting a handfull but wondered if they would really be any better in the long run.

I hadn't considered the shock absorber function of the bushings, and now taking that into account I suppose ball bearings wouldn't be such a great idea.

I guess it's back to the shops, I'll look for spoons first then if not I'll go with the hardware spacer things.

Thanks guys, I knew there had to be other options out there.

(Edit to add: What kind of Ford vehicle Tom? Think I'll swing by Autozone and check those out too while I'm at it. Are they behind the counter or a Help! item?)

-Amber

[This message has been edited by pumpkincarriage (edited 04-18-2008).]

Slightly less then 1/2 inch diameter, I had one good old bushing to compare sizes when replacing them.
Article on Fiero Sails has bushing dimensions: http://www.fierosails.com/headlights.html

ok i measured 10 of them
.487
.487
.490
.488
.487
.485
.487
.491
.487
.490

That makes them on average 12.4mm. IIRC I measured a stock one and came up with 12.5mm, so I'm guessing that 12.4-12.5mm works fine. 0.488" or 15/32" ( a bit small ) would be the diameters to look for.

JazzMan

I found mine at Lowes. Strangely they had what appeared to be exact replacements in the fastener area. They were in those cabinets full of specialty fastners with pull drawers.

They have been working fine for years now.

quote Originally posted by pumpkincarriage: (Edit to add: What kind of Ford vehicle Tom? Think I'll swing by Autozone and check those out too while I'm at it. Are they behind the counter or a Help! item?) -Amber

at the oreilly's where i got mine they were in the Help section.

Was it this one?

https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/089981.html

Wrote this a bit ago, but this is for gen II (87-88) headlights. Mine were .460" long by .480" in diameter for a press together fit.

Has anyone else tried the Ford gear plugs shown above? They look the same as in the Fiero headlight but the "Help" catalog doesn't list dimensions or type of material they are made from.

quote Originally posted by spark1: Was it this one?

yes, those are the ones i used.

Found and measured a bushing, it is 0.483" [12.27mm] +/- .002" in diameter and 0.450" [11.4mm] long.

JazzMan