max911

Armed with the spoiler drive DIY from Robin's site, and tired of the 'coffee-grinder' sounds from the rear of my car, I set out to DIM (do it myself) a few days ago.
Since I started the project, Bozo has contributed an excellent post on his DIY. I have a little more to add. I won't be able to top his humour, so I will keep the text to a minimum, and rely on visual aids

WHY ?? does the bearing rust?? After some thinking and examination, I am sure that most of the moisture gets in to the spoiler drive where the drive cable enters the unit.









In the rain, or at the carwash, water will run along the drive cable and enter the housing, as it is not completely sealed.


This results in the bearing corroding. This one that I removed from a used spoiler that I had, was completely seized. Inset is a picture of a sealed bearing that was used as a replacement.







HOW?? to keep the moisture out??

I used a bit of black silicone where the cable enters the housing, then slid an O-ring over the cable to meet the housing. This should help seal the drive unit.







I then added a second O-ring on the cable a short distance away from the housing. This will stop the water running along the cable, causing it to bead, and falling out of harms way.






max

max911

There is a spot to drill a small hole to add lubricant to the spoiler drive unit.
I used a plug that was with a printer ink cartridge refill kit. I also used the hand held drill bit that was included with the refill kit.
The resulting hole was just the right size for the red straw on my can of lubricant. I used motrcycle chain lube as it has a high-tack quality, and should stay on the gears.

If you have your drive apart, by all means repack the bushings with grease. But, if your spoiler drive isn't noisy yet, (and therefore the bearing is still OK), this may be a quick, cheap way to add some life to your spoiler drive.





max

John D.

Really Excellent photos and write up. THANKS! Between yours, Greg's and Robin's at p-car.com - even I should be able to do this Question - where did you get the replacement sealed bearing?

Thanks!

max911

John, i just looked in the yellow pages for a bearing supply/industrial supply store, called them with the bearing number from Robin's site :
( 625-2RS ) and picked them up. $2.20 each if I remember. They also had the Loctite 495.
For the rubber o-rings, i went to a local, well stocked hardware store with the drive cable in hand and found the size that would fit, yet would be tight enough to 'grip' the cable cover. The inside diameter of the extra one i bought appears to be 1/4 inch.

max

Evan

Max, Outstanding Post !

John D.

Thanks Max...!!!

Again - terrific write-up & pics...!!!

RRLOwen

Wow! And I get this kind of detailed info for $32? complete with photos!!
I can hardly believe it.

Seriously, this is great information. I only hope that I can at some time offer back to all of you some discovery I make about the car which is as useful.

THANKS

BTW - expect to actually take delivery of my car within a week. Can hardly wait.

RROwen

MIK911

Not being a 993 owner, but interested in all things 911, what is the problem that you're 'fixing'? The rusted bearing etc causes malfunction of the up/down motion of the automatic spoiler?

Just interested
Thanks
Mike
'86 coupe

max911

hi Mike,
if you look at the DIY here , the pictures will help you see the spoiler gear drive mechanism a little better.
the cable is spun by a small electric motor. So, besides the bad noises when the bearing is on its way south, it is also hard on the motor. The worm gear/bearing i pictured was seized solid, so, as soon as the car would hit 50mph , the control module would 'tell' the spoiler motor to raise the spoiler. which it would try to do until it popped a fuse or breaker (not sure, as this is from a used spoiler assembly that i purchased).
at about $220 -$250 each for the spoiler drive and the electric motor...it's worth a bit of looking into. If only Porsche would have used a sealed bearing to start with......well....we'd probably be talking about something else now
max

nels415

Max,

Thanks for the tip, I just finished regluing my spoiler drive gear back together tonight. I'll have to go pick up some of those rubber o rings at the hardware store tomorrow.

-nelson