Sunroof track arms have snapped - any experience with a fix?

UPDATE

I am determined to win.

I've gone back at the broken sunroof track arms. After removing the headliner and dropping the sunroof assembly entirely (it's out in the garage on saw horses), I could get a better look at the problem I knew I had.

A couple of observations:

The 1999-2006 sunroof repair kit (https://www.ebay.com/itm/275389325455) doesn't come with the parts required to fix my problem. My problem is with the plastic arms that work to pull the wind deflector at the front of the sunroof opening down when the sunroof glass is moved forward and into the vent position.

Pictures of the broken arms are below. There are only two arms per sunroof assembly - I scavenged another set from a local junkyard.

As has been noted, it is these plastic deflector arms that are definitely the most fragile/vulnerable in the whole system. More unfortunately, GM does not sell these (you can't get them on GMPartsDirect or similar sites) and intact ones have proven to be like Unobtanium.

I'm looking into having a set 3D manufactured. Even better would be to find a machinist who can fabricate them out of strong aluminum or steel. Still working those angles.

My last resort is JBWeld and put them back in. JBWeld isn't a miracle substance and given the torque put on these arms over time, I'm not at all confident that they won't break again at some point. I've seen several sunroof tracks with these broken arms over the past few weeks doing research - and in every case, they break along the thinnest point of the arm - which is entirely predictable.

Does anyone have any experience with 3D manufacturing these or something like them? Or doing a machinist version?

UPDATE 07/26/2024 (with final fix)

I've decided that the search for the ability to replace these arms isn't likely to work out well.

I also realized that the arms control the operation of the wind deflector and nothing else - they aren't essential to the operation of the sunroof itself (but they do get in the way if they're broken). I also realized that the factory wind deflector wasn't good. It made more noise than anything else. So, I simply removed the factory wind deflector (there are two clips on the front of the sunroof assembly frame used to pop it out) and drilled out the rivets in the control arms and removed them from the track.

The sunroof works fine, and I'm using a Weathertec wind deflector - which works better than the factory deflector did. And FWIW, driving around with the sunroof open with no deflector at all creates no real noise to speak of anyway.

So that's how I solved this problem. If I'd have come to the realization earlier that I didn't need to have the factory deflector in place, I could have been here a lot earlier.

If anyone ever finds a source for the plastic arms, let us know.

Hope this helps someone.

Sorry to hear that. I was hoping you’d find a solution! I installed a wind deflector in April 2022 after giving up on fixing the factory wind deflector. It’s worked well and I’m sure you’ll be happy with it long term.

Auto Ventshade AVS 78061... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0001EXKMA?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Z71Tahoe2004 said:

UPDATE 07/26/2024 (with final fix)

I've decided that the search for the ability to replace these arms isn't likely to work out well.

I also realized that the arms control the operation of the wind deflector and nothing else - they aren't essential to the operation of the sunroof itself (but they do get in the way if they're broken). I also realized that the factory wind deflector wasn't good. It made more noise than anything else. So, I simply removed the factory wind deflector (there are two clips on the front of the sunroof assembly frame used to pop it out) and drilled out the rivets in the control arms and removed them from the track.

The sunroof works fine, and I'm using a Weathertec wind deflector - which works better than the factory deflector did. And FWIW, driving around with the sunroof open with no deflector at all creates no real noise to speak of anyway.

So that's how I solved this problem. If I'd have come to the realization earlier that I didn't need to have the factory deflector in place, I could have been here a lot earlier.

If anyone ever finds a source for the plastic arms, let us know.

Hope this helps someone.

Click to expand...

I sourced good control arms and the little spring loaded clips for the wind deflector out of a Denali in a junkyard a few years back. It still doesn’t go up, it just stays down when I open the sunroof so I just said whatever and figured the deflector can stay down. Like you said the sunroof still works fine regardless of the wind deflector. It’s perfectly quiet with the defector down so it’s a non issue for me.

adventurenali92 said:

I sourced good control arms and the little spring loaded clips for the wind deflector out of a Denali in a junkyard a few years back. It still doesn’t go up, it just stays down when I open the sunroof so I just said whatever and figured the deflector can stay down. Like you said the sunroof still works fine regardless of the wind deflector. It’s perfectly quiet with the defector down so it’s a non issue for me.

Click to expand...

Yep - I found, over the years, that the factory wind deflector - when it's in its up position where it's designed to be when "deflecting" wind, actually makes the cabin much louder than when it's held down or completely taken off. The Weathertec or any other AM wind deflector is entirely more effective.