Power Vent Motor- Anyone ever take one apart??

[Big_John]

The power vent motor on my '70 300 has finally given up the ghost. It was intermittently functioning, but it's not doing anything now.

I'm getting ready to pull it apart. Anyone else done this?

BTW, the motor is the same as the late 60's Cadillac if that means anything. A google search has been fruitless for me.

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

All I've ever done is replace the mount point where it contacts the vent window pivot. That's the really weak part in the design of that motor.

I expect all it needs is a very good cleaning and relubrication as there's likely dirt and some corrosion that's impeding the electrical signal from grounding out to the body of the car.

 

[Big_John]

All I've ever done is replace the mount point where it contacts the vent window pivot. That's the really weak part in the design of that motor.

I expect all it needs is a very good cleaning and relubrication as there's likely dirt and some corrosion that's impeding the electrical signal from grounding out to the body of the car.

That's kind of what I'm thinking too.

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

Keep me posted, I am interested in how difficult it is to disassemble and refurbish one of those motors.

 

[bigmoparjeff]

Piece of cake.

I rebuilt a few of them when I was 17 years old.

Don't remember any details, but I know it wasn't hard, and they worked great when they were done.

Jeff

 

[Big_John]

I have it all apart and it looks like the drive gear is toast. Started looking for one and then I found this video. Looks like its the same gear as a 61-64 Caddy.



Just ordered one of these: 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 Cadillac Left Driver Side Vent Window Motor Gear REPRODUCTION Free Shipping In The USA

 

[Big_John]

The video doesn't show this, but I also decided to pull the motor apart.

Top brush plate slides up. Release the spring tension on the brushes first.

Armature slides out. Commutator looked good. Just needed a cleaning.

In the bushing down in the bottom is a small disc and a ball.

The disk.

Grease keeps the ball in place on the end for reassembly.

Tested the motor and it sounds a little better.

Armature and housing reassembled, just waiting on new gear.

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

I'm interested in if there's a difference between the 59-64 gears and the 65 and up gears -

1965 1966 1967 1968 Cadillac (See Details) Vent Window Motor Drive Gear 1 Pair REPRODUCTION Free Shipping In The USA

1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 Cadillac Left Driver Side Vent Window Motor Gear REPRODUCTION Free Shipping In The USA

Which motors were used by Chrysler in which years? If I had my druthers, I'd prefer to use the repro zinc plated steel ones as opposed to the pot metal reproductions. It's the pot metal originals that fail...

Let us know if your new gear fits and lines up to the vent window pivot. I'm not sure if there's a dimensional difference between the two options.

 

[Big_John]

Comparing the vent motors I have with the Caddy motors, the '61 to '64 motors look identical. Same with the gears.

Watching the video, the gear looks identical except I think that's a right side gear as it has an opposite "clocked" slot. That one is a '59 and the gear I ordered fits '59 to '64.

It was a funny conversation when I ordered the part over the phone. He asked what year Caddy and I told him it was for a Chrysler. He said that was a new one on him

 

[Big_John]

Their '61-'64 motor.

Mine

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

Interesting - you'd think they'd know that they were used in all the big GM cars, and that Chrysler used them too. I'm not sure about Ford Lincoln Mercury...

Looking forward to hearing about your progress!

 

[Big_John]

Interesting - you'd think they'd know that they were used in all the big GM cars, and that Chrysler used them too. I'm not sure about Ford Lincoln Mercury...

Looking forward to hearing about your progress!

It surprised me too. What's funny is you can buy a Mopar unit a lot cheaper. One of my motors is a NOS I bought from Mitchell's (of all places) via eBay and I think I paid $150 for it. Had to buy a bracket for it though. I'll bet that if that was sold as a Caddy piece, it would be a lot more... $150 for a used motor with bracket from Murray.

From what I see, I believe that the power window motors in the Fords came from the same vendor as our cars did. Possibly the power antennas are Ford based too, but I never got too far pursuing that.

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

Definitely the power antennas.

 

[bigmoparjeff]

Wow. That gear is really chewed up.

None of the ones that I've messed with so far have been that worn.

Plans are that someday I'll be doing more, so it's good to know that you can get the gears.

I remember getting quite a few of those motors from the junkyard, so I may be in good shape if they aren't all worn out.

Jeff

 

[Big_John]

OK... Got the new gear today. Had to go across country and it spent an extra day in the post office's black hole, but it's here now.

And... drum roll... yep, same gear except it's clocked wrong.

OK... Looked a little more and compared pictures and it looks like Chrysler used the motors alrighty... But they switched them side to side. I actually need a gear for the right side to fit my left side motor!

Inside the top... "RH"

There's no way I mixed this up, if you are wondering... They only bolt to the bracket one way, the left won't fit on the right etc. and the left bracket won't fit in the right door.

Bracket... Note odd part number, which tells you it fits the left side (My memory trick is to remember the driver is a little odd so the part numbers match)

New gear coming next week. Caddy Daddy has a 20% restock fee with only store credit, so I'm keeping the one I got if the other side breaks.

 

[commando1]

Thank you Big John.
You dug into it.
You did your search engine diligence.
You shared this valuable information.

This is how you fix your own problems, people.

 

[Big_John]

It looks like my final wrap up post disappeared into the black hole when the server upgrade happened.

The new gear arrived promptly and it matched the damaged gear just fine.

Some assembly pics;

As mentioned in the video, the new gear is thicker and I needed to omit this spacer.

Hardest part was getting this hardened seal back on in one piece. I wish they made new ones.

Motor is back in the car and functioning great. The vent now seals better and that's eliminated the annoying whistle I would sometimes get from the vent. That was a bonus that I wasn't thinking about... But it makes sense, if the gear doesn't bottom out because of wear, the vent isn't going to seal as well.

So, I'm happy with how it turned out. Looking at the prices of used vent motors, and those may need the gear repair too, I'm ahead of the game, even buying the extra gear by mistake.

 

[detmatt]

Bravo!

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

Great! I've made a little tech doc for my files! Thanks John!

 

[ImperialLeBaron1969]

This was helpful! My other motor was stuck and when I disassembled it I found that the shaft was stuck in te bronze bearing in the bottom. I managed to loosen the shaft with the bearing. I dont know if I be able loo get the bearing of the shaft and then clean and get rid of the rust. Time will tell!

It looks like my final wrap up post disappeared into the black hole when the server upgrade happened.

The new gear arrived promptly and it matched the damaged gear just fine.