Light switches

[Joe Flanagan]

Is there any reason to take apart and inspect/clean the headlight and instrument panel switches? Mine are original and I figure the contacts could probably use some attention. Just wondering if anyone's done it and if getting them back together is manageable.

[P-12 Tommy]

Is there any reason to take apart and inspect/clean the headlight and instrument panel switches? Mine are original and I figure the contacts could probably use some attention. Just wondering if anyone's done it and if getting them back together is manageable.

It's pretty straight forward. There's little tangs around the switch. Pry them back with a pair of needle nose pliers. Pull it apart. Make sure you put everything back the way it came out. It's probably dry as a bone inside. Clean up all the copper contacts and put some of that electric grease in there. I'm sure someone else will chime in on this one.

Tom

[Joe Flanagan]

Yeah, Tom, that's exactly what I wanted to do. These things haven't been touched since 1983. I saw the tangs that would have to be pried back and was wondering if you could get everything back together OK.

[Jerry Roberts]

I have done a couple of the smaller switches using this method and it works well . I didn't use the dielectric grease though as I didn't think of it . As a side note , I was reading on the 5 th ave web site that you shouldn't use dielectric grease on your battery terminals as it can melt and form a bearier to the current .

[Young Ed]

Joe on the other side of the street I needed a headlight switch for my pickup and happened to grab a 49-50 style that was laying around. Installed it and its been fine for almost 10 years now.

[Alshere59]

If memory serves someone mentioned these switches get pretty hot depending on its function so would dielectric grease melt. If I'm off track someone chime in. Maybe you could use a spray contact cleaner and accomplish the same thing without taking it apart.

Update: Well to answer my own question it shouldn't melt as that would require 392 F. The link below gives that and also talks to it forming a possible barrier.

http://www.ipdusa.com/products/6706/dielectric-grease

Edited June 12, 2011 by Alshere59
Updated

[Joe Flanagan]

Seems to be pretty easy to disassemble. I'll be doing that today, so I'll take pictures and post them here. Went to a boneyard yesterday that has lots of Mopars. Most are from the 60s but there are a handful of 40s models. Got a bunch of extra bulbs and sockets.

[Joe Flanagan]

Here's a picture of my switches and lights for the dash. It's the switch for the panel lights, the headlight switch, and all the bulbs for the gauges. I took them out all together nine years ago and labled everything:

The back of the headlight switch.

I used a small screwdriver to bend back the tangs that hold the back of the switch on. Just a few taps with a set of pliers did the trick. That got them started and I just bent them the rest of the way with a flat bladed screw driver:

What's inside:

The piece that moves and makes the connection when you turn the switch:

Here you can see the old dried out grease inside the switch:

After cleaning it up, I put a little di-electric grease on the moving parts:

[Joe Flanagan]

Reassembling the headlight switch:

This is the inside of the switch for the panel lights. Does anyone know what purpose the spring serves? You can turn the knob so that the contact runs along the spring so I'm guessing it works like a rheostat to dim the lights on the dash. But what do I know? I'm just a guy in a white T-shirt:

Here's the inside of the switch:

Like the headlight switch, it was caked with dried out grease on the inside. Cleaned and lubricated this one as well and put it back together.

And finally, does anyone know what this is? At first I thought it was an in-line fuse but now it seems like it's just a connector:

[Alshere59]

Joe

You have it right the spring is a resistor wire so as the contact movers across it it dims. The connector is just that, a connector.

Al

[Joe Flanagan]

Thanks, Al. I'll be replacing all the wiring. Got a box of new bullet connectors and I'm ready to have fun.

[Jim Yergin]

Seems to be pretty easy to disassemble. I'll be doing that today, so I'll take pictures and post them here. Went to a boneyard yesterday that has lots of Mopars. Most are from the 60s but there are a handful of 40s models. Got a bunch of extra bulbs and sockets.

Joe,

Did you find the top to the fuse holder for your OD relay at the yard?

Did you get the article I emailed?

Jim Yergin

[Joe Flanagan]

Jim,

Looked high and low for the fuse holder but didn't find one. I followed Young Ed's suggestion and looked at headlight switches in older cars, too. I think I might be able to find one at a local generator shop, though. I'm going to check them out tomorrow.

Haven't checked my e-mail yet but will do soon.

[Joe Flanagan]

Where the wire comes up into the bottom of the individual bulb sockets for the dash lights and makes contact with the bulb, there is a tiny cap on the wire that looks like a mushroom. They're crimped on the ends of my original wires. Does anyone know what to use as replacements for these? They are not bullet connectors.

[TodFitch]

Where the wire comes up into the bottom of the individual bulb sockets for the dash lights and makes contact with the bulb, there is a tiny cap on the wire that looks like a mushroom. They're crimped on the ends of my original wires. Does anyone know what to use as replacements for these? They are not bullet connectors.

I suspect a specialty vintage wiring supply might have them. But I went to my local hardware store and bought a package of hollow brass rivets and soldered them on the ends of the wires.

[Joe Flanagan]

Thanks, Tod. I will try that.

[P-12 Tommy]

Good job Joe! See how easy it is. Your switch will function alot better.

Tom

[Joe Flanagan]

Thanks, Tom. I hope to get it all wired up tomorrow.

[greg g]

yes the bakelite fixture on the end of the wire is a butt connector. I whonder who decided it would be a good idea to grease the light siwtches???

[JerseyHarold]

Where the wire comes up into the bottom of the individual bulb sockets for the dash lights and makes contact with the bulb, there is a tiny cap on the wire that looks like a mushroom. They're crimped on the ends of my original wires. Does anyone know what to use as replacements for these? They are not bullet connectors.

I pulled the expander nail from small pop rivets, then pushed the wire through the hole in the rivet head, crimped, and soldered. Worked well.

[Don Coatney]

I whonder who decided it would be a good idea to grease the light siwtches???

I have the same question. I dont believe the factory greassed them.

[Joe Flanagan]

I don't know. Maybe it wasn't grease that was in there but it sure looked like it to me. Anyway, I researched the use of di-electric grease and I gathered that it is non-conductive and only to be used on moving parts. I had some extra that came with my spark plug wires and so I used that. I found similar stuff inside an old ignition switch I took apart.

[Joe Flanagan]

Thanks to Tod Fitch and Jersey Harold for the suggestion. I got some rivets and replaced all the wiring and contacts for the dash bulbs this afternoon. Worked like a charm. It's nice to say goodbye to all that ratty wiring. If I get time tomorrow, I'll install the switches and bulbs and see how (if) they work. I have GE 55's for the most part. There's one 63 and another very small one whose number I cannot read: ?1.

[TodFitch]

I have the same question. I dont believe the factory greassed them.

It is fairly common to use some dielectric grease for that type of thing nowadays but I think that was a fairly recent (last 30 or so years) practice. Seems like it wouldn't hurt and it might cut down on the corrosion/oxidation on the contacts going forward.