Restoring Rusty

[Titomars]

Originally Posted by Gregski

good point, the cylinder was the big problem, but the gear was missing a tooth too, so I had to order one, once it comes in in a couple of days I can reassembly the whole thing, I do yap about it in that other Truck Won't Start No Sounds No Noises Nothing thread

here's a pic of that sector gear with one tooth missing

The sector gear probably took a hit from the lock cylinder falling apart. The parts got to go somewhere and plastic generally loses to metal
By the way the hood turned out great!

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by Titomars

The sector gear probably took a hit from the lock cylinder falling apart. The parts got to go somewhere and plastic generally loses to metal

True

Originally Posted by Titomars

By the way the hood turned out great!

and thank you

[Chaplain]

Oh my goodness.

[JacobSchni]

for anyone wanting to see a in depth view of the steering column being taken apart:
http://forum.73-87chevytrucks.com/sm...?topic=12525.0

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by JacobSchni

for anyone wanting to see a in depth view of the steering column being taken apart:
http://forum.73-87chevytrucks.com/sm...?topic=12525.0

yeah but not even he can show me how the Switch Rack Preload Spring goes back in

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by Gregski

yeah but not even he can show me how the Switch Rack Preload Spring goes back in

OK, so I figured it out it goes behind this switch rack to push it against the plastic spector gear better/firmly

[Gregski]

found this page on the interwebs that explains what each wire does on the turn signal switch wiring harness ie the non ignition switch wires that run up the steering column

this isn't the exact part / plug match but the wires seem identical, so it might could help somebody out, I know it beats the wiring schematics for me anyways

white - stop lamp switch (what is that?)

green - right rear turn signal
yellow - left rear turn signal

purple - turn flasher (what is that?)

brown - hazard flasher

dark blue - right front turn signal
light blue - left front turn signal

black - horn

[Gregski]

ok fellas help me out here (while we wait for the ignition sector gear to show up) knowing what we know now about the rainbow of colors turn signal switch plug and wiring harness:

How do we activate / test each component?

For example what do we supply to the GREEN wire to make the right rear turn signal turn on?

Do we give it positive power, or do we connect negative to it?

I ask because to activate the horn BLACK wire I have to connect negative to it, but to activate the turn signals GREEN, YELLOW, LIGHT BLUE, DARK BLUE, I have to give positive power to it.

No idea how to activate the other ones, WHITE, PURPLE, BROWN. Please enlighten me in the ways of electric current flow.

[Titomars]

Originally Posted by Gregski

ok fellas help me out here (while we wait for the ignition sector gear to show up) knowing what we know now about the rainbow of colors turn signal switch plug and wiring harness:

How do we activate / test each component?

For example what do we supply to the GREEN wire to make the right rear turn signal turn on?

Do we give it positive power, or do we connect negative to it?

I ask because to activate the horn BLACK wire I have to connect negative to it, but to activate the turn signals GREEN, YELLOW, LIGHT BLUE, DARK BLUE, I have to give positive power to it.

No idea how to activate the other ones, WHITE, PURPLE, BROWN. Please enlighten me in the ways of electric current flow.

The horn at the column is always a ground on older American vehicles the lead grounds through the horn contact via the steering shaft/column which in turn activates the relay sending power to the horn itself.
As far as the turn signal and hazard wiring goes.... they are all positive.
I am a retired automotive electrician the only test one would do at that connection would be to trouble shoot a single circuit not working as it is suppose to. generally it is fairly obvious if the switch is bad.
For the basics you need to know which way the current flows. all circuits form a loop you need to determine where the part you are testing is in that loop. one way is to figure out where the load (light) is in the loop. Then figure out where the control (switch) is. If the control is in front of the load its positive, if behind it is negative. so lets apply this to your horn circuit. the horn is grounded to the chassis by mounting. the green lead goes back to the relay. A relay is nothing more than a switch. the other side of the relay is fed with battery voltage. to energize the relay we need a control circuit. power enters the relay as normal battery voltage but to energize it we need to complete the circuit. so from the control side power goes in and the ground goes up the column through the T/S switch to the horn contact when you press the horn it ground the black wire which energizes the relay and the horn blows.
I am sure this is all clear as mud. I do better as a teacher in person

[Gregski]

this shows what the pins on the ignition switch are, mine doesn't use all of them but the ones that it uses match

[Gregski]

Diagram of the two plugs the white one and the black one that plug in to the ignition switch and what they do


WHITE CONNECTOR

Pink - Start & Run (connect this to the ignition) ... Pink is ignition, pink is ignition, pink...

Purple - Start (connect this to the starter solenoid)... Purple is starter, purple is starter...

Red - This is the Battery connection bringing power into the switch. Red is usually power, red...

Brown - Accessory & Run (Accessories....)


BLACK CONNECTOR

Red - This is the Battery connection bringing power into the switch.

Orange - Run (connect this to power anything in the Run state) I also have a Dark Brown / White Stripe wire going here, not sure what it's for

Light Brown / Black Stripe - Start position switches this lead to ground

[bnoon]

The colors match and the pins themselves match, but the plastic connectors can be slightly different between the years. I pulled pins from the '82 tilt column and combined the wiring from my broken '74 column and everything connected and functioned properly. Aside from one slightly infected puncture wound from a steel pick tool while removing a pin, everything went smooth with that part of it. Post '96 of my build thread if you'd like to take a gander, but pictures were slim at the time because I had such a bad time pulling my old column out since I had never done it before.

[rusty76]

Well I'll be.

[JacobSchni]

i also want to know what the white wire is.

[Titomars]

Originally Posted by JacobSchni

i also want to know what the white wire is.

The white wire is the feed for the brake light (stop light). It comes from the stop light switch and goes into the T/S. From there it goes on its way to the rear lights

[Gregski]

ok so let me share with you the anatomy of the ignition switch assembly

first of all it is mechanical and not electronic, say what? yes the actual ignition switch does have wires plugged into it, but it is operated / manipulated mechanically

so it all starts with you putting the Key in the Ignition Lock Cylinder (as opposed to the door lock cylinder) notice I did not say what we all have heard andy maybe even said "Put the key in the ignition" umm no or worse "Put the key in the ignition switch"

On our trucks the key goes into a Lock Cylinder and there are no wires (at least on mine) that plug into there, zero, nada, zilch

the Lock Cylinder connects to a plastic gear called an Ignition Switch Sector which looks like a half circle with teeth on it [pronounced "The Part That Usually Fails"]

The Sector Gear connects to the Switch Rack Assembly made out of what seems like the world's finest shinny pot metal, kinda like a rack and pinion steering concept a round ball makes a 2x4 go side to side or up and down concept

The Rack connects to a Switch Rod, basically about a foot long metal coat hanger looking thing with two hooks one at each end, this works like a push \ pull device

So far we covered five components, Key, Cylinder, Sector, Rack, and Rod and no wires to speak of, see MECHANICAL

finally the Rod connects to the actual Ignition Switch, now this switch actually has two funky looking plastic connectors which plug into it, in my case one plug is white and the other black yours may differ

So I like to think of this as an old lazy man sitting in his lazy boy and using a broom stick to turn the light switch off and on located just out of reach on the wall next to him ~ how's that for an analogy

And this my friends is why these vehicles were / are so easy to steal, and I speak from experience... no I do not steal cars, I had one stolen. You see all you have to do is get ahold of that metal rod maybe cut it and push it down and whalla vroom vroom vroom truck is running

[Titomars]

Originally Posted by Gregski

So I like to think of this as an old lazy man sitting in his lazy boy and using a broom stick to turn the light switch off and on located just out of reach on the wall next to him ~ how's that for an analogy

And this my friends is why these vehicles were / are so easy to steal, and I speak from experience... no I do not steal cars, I had one stolen. You see all you have to do is get ahold of that metal rod maybe cut it and push it down and whalla vroom vroom vroom truck is running

You have to look back at cars that still had ignition switches on the dash. Manufacturers were forced to comply with certain anti theft devices and the locking steering column was number one. So the lock is housed in the column to activate the steering wheel lock. The only problem was the modern ignition switch has too many wires attached to fit directly to the cylinder inside the column. So this was the way they worked around the problem and conform to the new laws.

To steal one..... You would not cut the rod. While you can start it that way, it does not bypass the steering wheel lock. The easiest and most effective way to steal a vehicle of the late 60's and 70's is to just use a slide hammer with a screw in the end. Then just thread it directly into the cylinder key slot and pull the cylinder. After that you can use a common screwdriver to twist the sector and work the ignition.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by Titomars

To steal one..... You would not cut the rod. While you can start it that way, it does not bypass the steering wheel lock.

See, I would not make a good car thief, lol, thanks for the history of development it was a neat time for sure, now cars are just appliances, borring

[Titomars]

Originally Posted by Gregski

See, I would not make a good car thief, lol, thanks for the history of development it was a neat time for sure, now cars are just appliances, borring

Hah !!! I thought I was the only person calling today's vehicles "Appliances". You know I remember a time when a car Divisions offerings for a specific year created excitement. The buyer had so many choices. Now everything looks the same regardless of brand.

[rich weyand]

Originally Posted by Titomars

Hah !!! I thought I was the only person calling today's vehicles "Appliances". You know I remember a time when a car Divisions offerings for a specific year created excitement. The buyer had so many choices. Now everything looks the same regardless of brand.

Yeah, they all look like jelly beans. Even the pickup trucks. Then someone puts a tiny crease in the sheet metal down the side of a new model and all the car mags get chubbies over it. Losers.

[Titomars]

deleted, double post

[MikeB]

Originally Posted by Gregski

And this my friends is why these vehicles were / are so easy to steal, and I speak from experience... no I do not steal cars, I had one stolen. You see all you have to do is get ahold of that metal rod maybe cut it and push it down and whalla vroom vroom vroom truck is running

[/SIZE]

I'm pretty sure my 82 GM service manual states the ignition switch is hidden way down on top of the steering column as an anti-theft measure! But even if a thief cuts the rod and starts the truck, he's still got the locking column to deal with so he can turn the steering wheel. However, there's probably a brute force tool for doing that.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by MikeB

...But even if a thief cuts the rod and starts the truck, he's still got the locking column to deal with so he can turn the steering wheel. However, there's probably a brute force tool for doing that.

Yup, it's called a large flat screw driver, found one on the floor of my Blazer when the cops recovered it. Funny thing is they said yeah, come on down it's driveable, and had me drive it home with the steering column in shreds.

[Gregski]

here's another look at the Ignition Switch Assembly Anatomy with all the parts separated out a bit and with close ups to see how they interlock together

I found this interesting and hope it helps somebody out, I find beauty in the simplicity of these wonderful machines

[Gregski]

size does matter, here's wishing this thing was three inches shorter