Finally found blend door actuator gears available!

[renaissanceman]

If your actuators are anything like mine, they like to crap out a lot, and it's usually just that one little gear. Just so you all know, the gear that breaks in the heater blend door actuators is now available -- Saved me serious $$$ over buying the whole assembly again.

http://www.amazon.com/Actuator-Rebuild-Lincoln-Mercury-1990-2012/dp/B01FIIWM90/

or eBay

http://www.ebay.com/itm/182120579591

Hope that helps someone as the weather gets hotter and we all need A/C more than ever!

 

[toypaseo]

Made in USA

 

[renaissanceman]

Domestic production of parts like this is getting more and more rare, it seems. I hope there will be a resurgence of American manufacturing in the coming years!

 

[swshawaii]

^ Agree. But we need to get tooling costs much lower. $20 for that tiny gear is crazy expensive. It's not a Rolex part.

 

[renaissanceman]

Yeah and niche stuff like this is fairly low volume, so the full cost of the tooling gets spread over a small run, leading to $20 small parts. Still better than $40 for a whole actuator if only the gear is broken I suppose.

 

[swshawaii]

Wanna get rich? Make all METAL timing chain guides for the 4.0L SOHC.
Wouldn't sell huge volume, but you could command super premium prices.

That's until Dorman/Help of China clones your product. IMO, pure garbage.
Actually U.S. owned but I've never seen a domestic made product from them.

 

[renaissanceman]

Yeah, a case in point was a guy who innovated a welded steel part to fix a plastic coolant passage in the intake manifolds of 2000-2002 Saturn S-Series cars...his parts are top knotch, made in a small shop in Georgia. Cost $80 and worth every cent -- He will email me back immediately if I need.

Dorman copied his design and makes a shoddy workmanship chinese knockoff and sells it for $30. I think he has a patent, but probably can't afford the legal costs...

:thumbdwn: