The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay New Tech tip for review

Below is a new tech tip submitted by Michael "Gibsonflatpicker"Groves. Please review and comment as may be needed.

Removing a headlight switch is such a minor thing right? This is true if you're an experience Bolter, but to a noob, it's not exactly intuitive. There's a little secret that once you figure it out, makes you say "Duh, that wasn't so hard."

For those of you who have been scratching your head and still haven't discovered how it's done, here's the scoop. This approach is used on virtually all cars and trucks utilizing the pull type of headlight switch.

First, as anytime you're doing electrical work, disconnect the battery. On many of the old switches the connectors are not insulated and shorting one out can mean burning insulation, sparks and in worst case scenarios, you could inadvertently set your vehicle afire.

Now reach under the dash and feel the underside of the switch (the side opposite the connectors) and find the small button shown in the picture. Then pull the headlight switch to the on position. Once it's in the on position, depress the button and you can now remove the knob and stem by pulling it out of the switch. Picture

Once the the knob and stem has been removed, you can unscrew the threaded bezel and then the switch will be free and can be easily removed. Picture

When reinstalling the switch, the knob and stem should slide right in. If not, simply depress the button while gently pushing the knob in and you're done.

first paragraph - last "you" should be "out"?
third paragraph - extra "in" before inadvertently.
fourth paragraph - some switches must be turned all the way one way or the other before they will release. For example my 53 has to be turned to the left (brightest dash lights position).

Thanks Vern. I'll update the tip...

now "our" should be "out"?

Thanks again... thank goodness Peg proof reads these things before publishing.

You now have at least 3 threads with the same title. How about putting some clue to the subject matter in the title so we'll know if we've looked at that one before?

I was thinking the same thing cletis. I'll try to make the titles more discriptive in the future. Either way it shouldn't be much of an issue once I burn down the backlog.

Maybe an addition to the tip you've given: What do you do when you press so hard that it leave a big "dent" in your finger and the button still won't go down? One trick I've used is to tape a dime to my finger. It gives you a nice surface that you can really push!!

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

You may want to identify that it is a spring loaded button and if possible show a side view of the switch.
And yes this is a needed tip, thanks. I remember destroying a dash on an old car the first time I tried to remove one of these switches.