1964 Headlight Switch

[Lynn B.]

I have no dash lights and believe the problem is a faulty rheostat in my headlight switch. It is unlikely that all of the instrument and radio bulbs burned out at the same time. Unfortunately, I cannot get the on/off assembly out of the switch. I have pushed on the button on the bottom of the switch multiple times (Note: I did hold the button down while pulling out on the switch) and I cannot get the on/off assembly to release. When I hold the button down and pull out on the on/off assembly, I can feel the button move; but again, I cannot get the assembly to release. I sprayed WD-40 down the shaft of the on/off assembly and let it sit for a day and still no luck in getting it out. Any pearls or suggestions.
Lynn

[Jeffrey S.]

Re: 1964 Headlight Switch

Try turning the shaft a few degrees and see if it will come out / the shaft is triangular and a different edge may come out more easily . I have had issues like this with repo switches . hope this helps Jeff

[Dan H.]

Re: 1964 Headlight Switch

Lynn, look at the bottom of the switch to see if it is a 131 stamped original.
Dan

[Lynn B.]

Re: 1964 Headlight Switch

Hi Jeff:
Thanks for the suggestions, unfortunately they did not help.

I did look for the stamped original switch number on the bottom of the switch and I did not find any stamped writing. I think I replaced the switch about thirty years ago and my sole source provider at that time we Corvette America. If my memory serves me correctly it was a GM switch.

The guys at Zips said that from time to time they have had trouble getting the shafts to release, but "Just keep pulling and twisting and it will release"

Any more suggestions? Fortunately all of my other lights work, so I can still drive the car to Cruise-ins
Lynn

[Lynn B.]

Re: 1964 Headlight Switch

Hi Dan:
I did not find a number stamped into the bottom of the switch. As I just told Jeff, I believe I replaced the switch about thirty years ago and I bought my new one from Corvette America. It was a GM switch.

None of Jeff's suggestions worked. Do you have any?
Lynn

[Don H.]

Re: 1964 Headlight Switch

Don't depress release button until knob is fully out.. Then depress button, and gently turn, and push in/out slightly until you find the sweet spot, and the shaft releases. When you re-insert shaft, do not depress button. it will re-catch when fully pushed in.

[Lynn B.]

Re: 1964 Headlight Switch

I want to thank Dan, Don and others for their suggestions. I have not been able to get the shaft out of my old switch, but that is now a moot point. I thought that my shaft was frozen in place by about 60 years of "crud" and a bit of spray solvent might get the shaft to release. So, I sprayed a bit of CRC Electrical Contact Cleaner down the shaft and turned the knob a bunch of times. I put in a second round of spray and let it sit overnight. The next morning I noticed my rheostat now worked and I had a full set of instrument lights. For now I am happy to have the lights working again and I have given up on getting the shaft to release.

One other item of note is that pushing down as hard as one can on the release button may not be the correct answer. My new switch from Zips arrived today and I noticed that the button on the new switch only depresses about 2.0mm. My old switch depresses about 4.0mm. Perhaps the sweet spot to get my shaft to release is in that 2.0mm range and not a full depression. Any thoughts?
Lynn Broadman

[Richard M.]

Re: 1964 Headlight Switch

Here are some photos of the internal knob shaft lock mechanism to help visualize operation. This is a earlier 096 switch used on C1's but same principle for later years.
1008210817a_resized.jpg 1008210817_Burst01_resized.jpg

The knob shaft is triangular and the tip is held by the spring loaded keeper. It catches a small groove in the shaft near the tip. Read on about reproduction knobs.
1008210852_resized.jpg

Note the keyhole slot in the keeper. When you push on the external button, it pushes the keeper down and relieves the knob shaft tip from the narrow slot and into the larger hole of the keyslot.
1008210819a_resized.jpg

Release button
1008210810a_resized.jpg
Pull knob out to 2nd detent. Push on the external release button. If you push too hard on the button, the tip will actually be grabbed by the furthest edge of the larger hole, preventing removal. You want to push the button lightly, then pull on the knob. If it still doesn't release, try turning the knob a bit while tilting the knob vertically in both up and down directions.

Note that some reproduction knob shafts(all years) have some inherent issues and may not be easy to either install or remove. I've experienced this several times.

1- The groove in the tip may be too narrow.

You may have to gently file the groove in the tip as it may be too narrow to be captured by the keeper. This may not be known until you try to remove one if the narrow groove has locked itself into the narrow keyslot.

2 - Shaft length not to spec.

One time I spent a long time getting a new '67 knob to work. My friend was there and we both were in disbelief over something so simple. The knob inserted and locked fine with the switch out of the dash, but once the switch was installed in the dash, the shaft would not lock in the keeper. As it turned out, the shaft was slightly too short. We had to mill a bit of the switch mount hole in the cluster to reduce the overall depth of the switch to get then knob to hold. On some C1's I've found even the paint thickness at the face of the cluster mount hole could be enough to add to the problem.

It's amazing how these little things can become lengthy head-shaking problems.

Rich