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pnosker · 03-12-2009, 04:32 PM

To those of you with Cali tops:

My motor stopped working well and I could hear grinding when it was trying to move. I popped the transmission of the motor open and saw that one of the two sets of gears on top of each other had been stripped. So, I pulled the good gear out and made a silicone mold out of Dow Corning Silastic T-4. Anyway, I'm going to be making some extra gears to sell and offset the cost of the silicone. If your Cali top is having issues, this is probably why.

I haven't made my own gear yet, but I think it will end up costing around $15 per gear shipped or two for $25. I'm going to buy molding epoxy from Home Depot which is around $8 a tube (good for one or two gears) and the silicone was around $80... though I have a ton left.

So, if anyone wants to save the hassle of buying a now $400 special order motor and transmission, get one or two of these gears so that you don't have an issue in the future. If it's broken, pull it apart and see if the gears are stripped.

Let me know if anyone's interested.

03-12-2009, 04:32 PM	#1
pnosker Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Central NJ Posts: 2,440 '95 BMW 318ti '95 Mercedes-Benz E320 '98 BMW M Roadster '97 BMW 318ti Active+Sport iTrader: (4) Photo Gallery	California Top motor gear replacement To those of you with Cali tops: My motor stopped working well and I could hear grinding when it was trying to move. I popped the transmission of the motor open and saw that one of the two sets of gears on top of each other had been stripped. So, I pulled the good gear out and made a silicone mold out of Dow Corning Silastic T-4. Anyway, I'm going to be making some extra gears to sell and offset the cost of the silicone. If your Cali top is having issues, this is probably why. I haven't made my own gear yet, but I think it will end up costing around $15 per gear shipped or two for $25. I'm going to buy molding epoxy from Home Depot which is around $8 a tube (good for one or two gears) and the silicone was around $80... though I have a ton left. So, if anyone wants to save the hassle of buying a now $400 special order motor and transmission, get one or two of these gears so that you don't have an issue in the future. If it's broken, pull it apart and see if the gears are stripped. Let me know if anyone's interested.