The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay How does one do without the Electrolock?

The Electrolock on the '42 1/2 ton I'm working on has been cut by a previous owner and the wiring in it is bad anyway so I'm looking for a way to be able to turn the ignition off and on without it. I still have the foot starter but I'm converting the truck to 12 volts. I'm thinking about just using a universal key lock dash switch like this: http://www.parts123.com/parts123/yb.dll?parta~dyndetail~Z5Z5Z50000014a~Z5Z5Z54057~P19.50~~~~S3Q904OP2N75272245858f~Z5Z5Z5~Z5Z5Z50000014x and just wiring it the way the '47-54 trucks were wired since they didn't have Electrolocks but still had the foot starters. I still want to be able to turn the ignition on and off with an original looking key.

Is this the best way to go, or is there a better way to do this? Also, is there one of the key lock cylinders like the above that can be bought at a local parts store (like Carquest or O'reillys) that fits in the hole in the 41-46 dash and has the correct looking key?

Thanks for any help.

I see used electrolocks on ebay all the time. Many are pretty cheap. They aren't difficult to rebuild. The Filling Station has a step-by-step rebuild guide for the '37-'39 electrolock that will also work for other years. It shows how to disassemble the switch to reattach/replace the wire. If you want to just get rid of it you can still use the original switch and simply run a wire from the switch to the top of the coil.

Thanks for the tip on the Filling Station manual. I may order it even though this electrolock is way beyond repair. I see the ones on eBay, too, but all are for different vehicles. I thought about gutting the thing and just running a wire to the coil as you suggested, but then I figured all I would have is basically just a 71 year old lock cylinder for all my trouble. I can't use the coil end of the electrolock anyway (if it was still there) since I'm using a 12 volt coil. That's when I decided I might as well just use one of the new universal type lock cylinders with the original style key (if it fits the hole in the dash). I could even run the wire to the coil in metal conduit, and to the average person it would look original.

I guess I mainly wanted a part number of a lock cylinder like the one I linked to from Filling Station that I could buy at a local part store so I don't have to go to the trouble and expense of ordering it. It's always nice (and a lot easier) just to be able to give the parts store people a part number rather than making them go thru their books.

Maybe I need to re-post the request for the part number as just that.

you don't need a part number for any ignition switch you could get at a FLAPS, just ask for a "forklift ignition switch", otherwise anything useful would be too old [obsolete] to be found locally

Bill

How many terminals do you need and what do the terminals need to be for?