Panel switches

[pflaming]

Working on the harness. Light switch moves in and out with a normal feel but the panel light switch moves hard. Is there a lubricant / cleaner for switches or do most just discard and replace. I have the 'survivor' syndrome so cleaning has preference, just me!

The switches, choke, and throttle have the same threated 'nut' which is cone shaped. Mine all work but are very corroded. At the risk of violating my survival code, are new / nice ones availalble?

PF

[wallytoo]

for the panel switch, try a little PB Blaster, and work the mechanism. should free it up.

the knobs are often on eBay, and i'm sure elsewhere. or do you mean the bezel-like piece that has four indents along the outer edge, and tightens the switch/choke/throttle etc to the dash? not sure if i've seen those, but they're probably out there somewhere.

[pflaming]

I have the knobs and the bezels but might like a nicer set of bezels. OK on the PB Blaster, didn't know if it would 'melt' something in the switch.

[buds truck]

If you need one, I have one.

[MBF]

If you have the switch out of the dash-carefully bend the tabs on the cover of the switch (box portion) and remove the flat plate. Be careful as I think there are small springs in there that hold the sliding pheonolic plate against the contact tips. I cleaned up the contacts on the plate and the tips, used a little di-electric grease, and carefully put things back together about 10 yrs ago. Still works smoothly, and hasn't failed yet. Mike

[Merle Coggins]

Good answer Mike. I also did that to a couple of my switches. They're quite easy to get apart and clean up. Just be gentle.

Merle

[wallytoo]

digging up an old thread.

spent the afternoon working on the panel light switch, since the panel lights have never worked. checked the bulbs themselves, and two were burned out, and the third was still a 6-volt, but working. i replaced them all with 12-volt bulbs. took a while to figure out the wiring under the dash (not as flexible as i used to be, neither is the wiring). it appears that the panel switch source is already occupied by a wire leading to the cab marker lights (i probably did that a few years ago, can't blame the previous owner), so i made a new jumper from the hot feed at the back of the light switch to the panel switch. pulled the panel switch and the dash lights/speedo light work.

i'm surprised at how brightly lit the gauges are. i took the truck for a 10 mile ride at sunset, and could easily read them. no problem seeing the speedo, either. much different than my jeep cj (a '75), where even with new bulbs, i can't read any of the instrument clusters or the speedo at night.

anyway, it was about time i got to it. i'll feel better about driving at night now that i can see the oil pressure and temp gauges.

wally