Ignition mechanism failure & fix

[68 TT]

Went out to start the 78 K20 yesterday to drive it to work. Turned the key, got the alt light but it didn't turn over then on the next try the mechanism broke. No ratcheting or resistance from full motion of the key.

Pulled the column down to see if it was the rod or switch that failed. Nope.

Pulled the steering wheel with the puller, the lock plate clip with my home made scrap metal tool & turn signal switch and found the rack gear that connects the ignition lock gear to the ignition switch actuation rod had broken in half. Crud.

Pulled out the #3 phillips screws under the signal switch and got down to the lock pins. Never yanked those out before.

I have a spare column that came with the 4x4 parts I picked up for the conversion of the 67 C10 so I cannibalized it for the part I needed to fix the 78.

Turns out a typical electrical receptacle retaining screw is the right thread count for the lock pins. Pulled them out with my old fabricated slide hammer made from a pair of vice grips, a broken hammer and a bolt with the threaded area cut and threaded to match the vice grips.

I will work on getting the good part back into the K20 tonight. That will be the fun part.

More pics of the torn apart column later.

[rfmaster]

Originally Posted by 68 TT

Turns out a typical electrical receptacle retaining screw is the right thread count for the lock pins. Pulled them out with my old fabricated slide hammer made from a pair of vice grips, a broken hammer and a bolt with the threaded area cut and threaded to match the vice grips.


More pics of the torn apart column later.

Great tool tip! Keep them photos coming

//RF

[68 TT]

I got a little more time to get the column torn the rest of the way apart and put back together yesterday.

The first thing to do is to remove the tilt spring so the setup is not under tension when you yank the pivot pins. It has a square drive hole in the retainer plug that a #2 phillps screw driver fits right into. Press in a little and turn just a little to release the tabs to remove it.

Once that is out and the pivot pins are removed you need to put the tilt lever back on and pull it to release the tangs that lock the collar in position so the assembly can slide off for access to the switch rod area.

[68 TT]

Once the tilt section is removed you can put the connection rod for the ignition switch back into the guide slot that it fell out of when the rack component failed.

The new rack component will slide into the guide channel pretty easily and has only one position it will align with on the ignition lock matching gear so it can't be put in wrong.

Reassembly goes pretty easily.

I used the opportunity of the column being apart to sand it down and give it a couple good coats of paint to get rid of the large mass of keys damage the PO did to the column too. Painted the scratched up SM465 shifter handle while I was at it too.

[Stitch]

very nice...how far down would the column have to broken down in order to get to the intermittent wiper dial that's in the column...I need to replace that on my column, and I was hoping I could find a cheap replacement without changing out the whole column...the intermittent wiper dial is like $125, a little more than a used tilt column, but with a used one I don't know if the new one works or not...lol

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by Fat Hoe

very nice...how far down would the column have to broken down in order to get to the intermittent wiper dial that's in the column...I need to replace that on my column, and I was hoping I could find a cheap replacement without changing out the whole column...the intermittent wiper dial is like $125, a little more than a used tilt column, but with a used one I don't know if the new one works or not...lol

You could probably leave the pivot pins in place and access it from under the turn signal switch. Neither one of the columns I tore apart had intermittent wipers so I didn't have to deal with that exact part to tell you for sure.