My new 1988 T/A

[farmington]

That smaller shade makes a lot of sense. What did it cost at old Wallymart?

[DynoDave]

It was under $40 Don. $37 something maybe? The shade was like another $10 or $12, though it's value is TBD.

[DynoDave]

As usual, life is getting in the way of me doing the things I want to do. Like fixing the hatch pull-down on the Trans Am.

Finally had an hour with my son helping to get the trim off and see what we have in there. I do have a spare, jack, etc. So that's nice. I'd never looked!

No nasty surprises. So again, that's nice.



No plastic housing in this model year, I guess? - Update: It does have one, just can't see it from this angle.


I've read back through 4 threads (at TGO) on these things that I've bookmarked over the years. In one, Lon (TDS) made reference to this wire (I believe), and it is not used in this year, if I'm understanding things properly.

[MP81]

Ahh, the good ol "...No don't slam it!!" motor!

[DynoDave]

Yes. And even though I do know better, and owned a new '91 back in the day, I must admit that I have forgotten once or twice in the years I've owned this car. Easier to do, as I have weak struts, so the hatch will slam quickly if you don't stop it.

Hopefully the exercise of having to replace this will keep me from doing that in the future.

[DynoDave]

Finally have a week off to get a few chores done, and hurt my back. Didn't want to see the Dr., but after having to crawl on all 4s to get across the living room because I could not stand up, I thought it was time. Several days on 2 prescriptions, and I feel like an (old) human again.


Didn't want to press my luck working hunched over the car, but I did take some time today to get the unit out of the car. Will try to dissect it tomorrow.

[farmington]

a sore back is miserable. feel better

[DynoDave]

Thank you sir. Getting better each day. Just glad it was nothing more serious.

Can't wait to get home, clear off a spot on the bench, and get to work on that thing.

[MP81]

Yep...back injuries suck.

I threw my back out moving a pair of wheels (both new, in box) to my wife's car to go have the tires mounted on them. In the rush, I wasn't paying attention, lifted with my back and twisted...that was that. Put those two, and then the other two into my wife's car, then brought the four tires up from the basement and put those in her car. My back was in so much pain, I had to have her drive. Once we got there, I unloaded the wheels and the tires into the shop, and then rolled the finished product out about 30 minutes later, putting them back into the car. Then, once we got home, I mounted the new wheels and tires onto the car.

One wonders if I had just stopped after the initial throw-out, if it wouldn't occasionally persist to this day (that was in 2015). That same spot will sometimes hurt for no particular reason, and I have to really watch my form when doing back lifts (compared to when my form was already good when I was lifting much heavier about a year prior).

Hope it heals fully, Dave.

[DynoDave]

Thanks Kyle. Was pretty good yesterday, a little sore today. But overall, much, much better than before.

OK, here we go.

Looking it over prior to disassembly, nothing obvious is wrong. All seems tight and secure. The guides feel tight between the two pieces. One fell of in this picture.



But when you start looking closer, there are a lot of guide shavings here and there. An awful lot for a car with 57k miles.


Checking all the places those black screws attach the plastic gear housing to the steel frame...I see NO cracks in the plastic.






That all looks good. From what I've read, the sign of a bad gear nut is a motor that won't stop running. I didn't have that. So I'm left with a bit of a mystery. All I've found are some plastic shavings. Taking another look at the guides...


...clearly one is damaged. Breaking apart really. And a couple of the others have some stress cracks in them. So I'll need guides for sure.

[DynoDave]

It's down to 81* in the garage, so time to get some work done.

Before further disassembly, I thought I'd try to take some sort of measurement as to where the gear nut was sitting.





So I grabbed the dial caliper and measured this dimension.





Looks like a perfect .250".





And now apart. Definitely bag and tag these screw. 6 fasteners, 3 different types, 3 different lengths.





Time to pull the lone Phillips head screw that holds the reversing switch on. If I was not working under a bright desk lamp on my bench, I would not have seen this crack in the housing...the only crack I've found. I would not have noticed it, and thought it was just glare, except just as I started to back the screw out, the crack closed up, and the visible line went away.





With the switch out of the way, the last 2 screws come out.





And apart she comes. Whatever this grease is that GM used, it's good stuff. 30 years old, and not one bit of it dried up. Still as soft and slippery as the day it went in.





Another angle. No smoking gun here.





A closer look at the gear nut. Looks good.









Cleaned up with a little WD40. Not signed of damage or cracks. But in for a penny, in for a pound. I'm buying a housing and slides, might as well get a new nut too.

Did some electrical testing with the switch. Send those results along to Lon at TDS. I'll call him tomorrow and get the new parts on the way.

[DynoDave]

Parts are on the way. Grabbed a little something extra while I was in the candy store...couldn't resist.

[farmington]

So darn easy to do.

[DynoDave]

Yes it is. They sell the sub-frame connectors I want too, but I had to draw the line somewhere.

[farmington]

Something to get on the next shopping trip.