Light Switch Body

Dirtrack49

Dirtrack49

Senior Member
Hi all,
Went to turn on my lights the other day and the switch in the steering wheel had no resistance. Took a look at the light switch body and found that the bail wire had fallen off which caused the body to separated from the steering box. Also noticed that the horn no longer worked for somewhat obvious reasons.
My question is, how do you reconnect or align the light switch body to the horn rod spider to make it operational again???
I know I must be missing something here.
Thanks,
Tom L.
30 Town Sedan
 
Mine did this and I was also at a loss. I figured it out after I installed a new wire harness for the lights. The switch housing has a keyed area at the bottom so it will only go on one way. The harness also is keyed. I iused duct tape to hold the switch/rod in the verticle position as I put the switch housing back on. I hope that made enough sense to help you. Good luck.
 
History, thanks for the input. I will take another look at it.
This car which is new to me, has a new harness on it. It also looks like the horn rod and all other related items are either new reproduction or restored original. I don't know enough about these cars yet to tell the difference.
I had noticed early on that the light switch body was not very well secured by the bail wire. Unfortunately, I was hassling other problems and did not get back to possibly bending the bail wire to hold everything tightly in place.
I will try to see where the spider needs to mate with the switch.
Thanks again,
Tom L.
 
Take a yard stick and put it over the horn button and through 2 spokes of the steering wheel. This will hold the horn rod down. Make sure you install the horseshoe onthe SpyDer properly. If it slips on ez then it's in the wrong place. Use a original light switch body if you can. The brass bumps inside are larger than the repo ones. This will give you a nice Click when you move the switch. Also two different size bales were used to hold the body on.
Wick
 
Thanks Wick for the info.
When you say horseshoe, are you referring to the item that holds the spider gear in place on the rod?
I take it that the two tangs on the spider need to be pushed outward (ala yardstick) and line up with something inside the light switch body?
Since the light switch body came off, would I still have the retainer (horseshoe) holding the spider on?
Thanks,
Tom L.
 
Yes, "horseshoe" as in a "c-clip" of sorts which keeps the spider in place against the compressed spring.

IIRC, when your light switch lever is "down" (i.e. "off"), your spider fingers are "Up & Down." If this is done and your switch is in the "off" position before placing the switch body onto the spider, everything will line up (i.e. fingers on the spider will align with slots on the switch.)

Joe K
 
If you take the light switch body off and the Spider falls off,then the horseshoe /clip was in the wrong place. Every garage should have a yardstick handy. Great for pushing items you can't reach from under a car. You can point at things with it,move hot parts,pop wasp with it.
Wick
 
Cheap insurance is to have a handful of those pesky c-clips. If you have extras, you will probably never need them, but if you don't have extras, that is a sure sign that you will loose it and never find it.

Also, fit check the c-clips without the spring in place just to make sure they do indeed fit. I've almost never had one to fit without massaging it one way or another.
 
So...I got the thing back on and aligned. Now the horn works, but the light switch body wants to move inside the wire spring hold down when I try to turn on the lights.
I guess I will need to find another wire holder, or try to bend this one into submission.
The wire holder is just ever so too loose to hold the body tightly.
Anyone have a good solution???
Tom L.
 
The light switch body has an "outdent" on it which matches a notch on the light switch "bracket" attached with two bolts to the bottom of your column. The outdent and notch should be on the "bottom" as the switch is located - you want to be sure your switch body is located so that the wire hole "points forward" (and you'll notice the small drain hole points "down.")

If you have the light body bracket upside down, the light switch out-dent won't match but your light switch MAY enter the bracket and fingers of the spider enough to allow it to be operational - but have the symptoms you report. (i.e. no "locater.")

Check your light switch bracket - it may be upside down.


A_3569.jpg

Snyders reports that on some reproduction light switch bodies the "outdent" is too large to enter an original light switch bracket - check for this too.


Joe K
 
I just finished installing a high low toggle switch in my steering column brace. Then ran new wires from the headlight sockets to the switch. No more shorts no more problems.
 
I just finished installing a high low toggle switch in my steering column brace. Then ran new wires from the headlight sockets to the switch. No more shorts no more problems.
Click to expand...
As my 29 CC Pickup came to me there was a hole drilled in the dash, and a pushbutton switch which was set to "bypass" the center of the column horn switch.

The simplicity of the car lends itself to "improvements" of all sorts.

Whatever floats your automotive boat.
6313245918_0a38c6d36e_o-700x509.jpg


Joe K
 
Hey, just got done figuring out what was wrong from the get go from the PO.
After several successful attempts at aligning the light switch body with the spider, and then it would fall out of position when turning the light switch. I found that the bail wire had been positioned upside down. Yes, it was grabbing the switch at the bottom, however, it was not putting any real tension on the switch body. So...I just for grins, flipped over the bail, and wallah, all is nice and tight.
Gee, what a simple solution that never came to mind while fiddling with this piece.
Lesson learned. Always look first for the simple solution!
Thanks for everyone's input. If anything, it made me think.
Tom L.
 
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