Steering wheel light switches

Gooseloony

Gooseloony

Senior Member
Finally got my horn back in action but while testing the horn button (which worked) I decided to move the light switch for a little test. The lever never engaged high, low or parking lights. It moved around 360^ and none of the lights came on. What's my new project this time?
 

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check the switch body on the bottom of the column. Just pop off the bail holding it and it will come off and a twist & pull will open it.
 
I think the spider is missing.

A3643.jpg


The two prongs engage the switch plate, turning the plate for the different lights, the horn in in the center of the switch and does not care about anything spinning.
 
I've seen switches where the prongs on the spider Mike shows were not long enough to engage the switch plate.
 
Mitch//pa said:
did it work before
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Funny you should ask. Yes it did but the high beams would go off while driving and I would have to hold it up lever by hand (apparently from vibration it would slip down), and then later on the low beams wouldn't work at all (they began working again just the other day), parking lights always worked. And what also doesn't seem right is the horn would sound if I moved the lever at about 8 o'clock. Now none of them work, lever just rotates 360^
 
Mitch//pa said:
did it work before
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Mike V. Florida said:
I think the spider is missing.

A3643.jpg


The two prongs engage the switch plate, turning the plate for the different lights, the horn in in the center of the switch and does not care about anything spinning.
Click to expand...

Mike is this down at the bottom of the steering column where the switch is located? From everyone's posts it appears something is happening down at the "switch plate", never explored that area with my limited mechanical abilities so please all of my loyal contributors stay with me! Each phase of my new discoveries is certainly an adventure (not necessarily fun ones but adventures none the less). Thank you all.
 
Thank you Bob and yes it does. I am definitely a visual guy when trying to understand things, at this point most of the "language" goes over my head.
 
That spring and horseshoe clip are tough to install. Put a wood yardstick through the steering wheel to hold down pressure on the horn button/light switch, while you press the spring and spider up to install the clip.

If you are using repro parts be sure to test fit the clip to the rod first, otherwise you might be fighting forever trying to make a misfit fit, while holding a lot of pressure up and wearing out your hand.

The dealers sell a tool to help push the spider and spring up, while you install the clip.
 
Thank you for the valuable advice Tom, got me worried now though. If it was tough for you, can image how it's going to be for me. A couple of questions though, what would be the difference from an original and repro clip; what would be the solution if the repro doesn't fit; does anyone have photos of this area showing what Tom is referring to?
 
The diff. between origianl and repro is how well they fit. Tom is suggesting you try that spider and keeper clip (the small horseshoe shaped clip at the very bottom of Bob's illustration) without the spring pressure. Those clips are a bugger, and the repros frequently have to be filed or bent or otherwise rebuilt to fit into the groove in the light rod. All of this is shown in Bob's post. That is the whole area detail at the bottom of your steering column. Someone may have a photo, but I'm not sure it would show better than the illustration.
 
Finally got around to pulling light switch body apart to see what's happening down there. Spider looks to be losing it's teeth, funny thing is I don't see them anywhere in the body or elsewhere. Now I've decided I'm going to attempt to order and change the light switch assembly (switch plate, C fitting, spring) and harness. Any advice on the best place (most reliable repro) to get these from. Have heard some people have luck getting them from Bert's but I hear stories about repros being a crap shoot. Any advice, I only want to attempt this one time. :confused:

Thank you, Nick
 

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Unless the other parts are in bad condition I think you would do yourself a favor and just replace the spider, clean it all up, and try things out. If that solves the problem you won't be chasing wild geese in the parts thrown at it.
 
J Franklin said:
Unless the other parts are in bad condition I think you would do yourself a favor and just replace the spider, clean it all up, and try things out. If that solves the problem you won't be chasing wild geese in the parts thrown at it.
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Good idea. Can the C fitting and spring be salvaged to reuse and would the C fitting fit properly into a new repro spider?
 
Thank you Tom, is there a good method to get the C fitting off without ruining it? Also, once that is off then the spider just drops down and spring is on top of it? Oh, and is the grease you see in the photo normal and will I have to replace any above that area?
 
someone put grease in the steering box and some of it came down to the switch area. Just clean away what you can and install the new spider. Just push up against the spring about 1/4" and pull the C clip out, the the spider and spring should fall off.
 
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