Dome light pin switch

[Perpendicular]

Looking online I cannot seem to find replacement quality dome light pin switches for my 68.

I have bought pin switches before and they can be too long or too short rather easily so I want to make sure I get the right ones from the start.

Anyone have experience with replacement pin switches?

[HO455]

I only have experience with the wrong switch. My 67 didn't come with door switches so I had to drill the holes myself. In retrospect I would have done that before I bought the switches. Then put some clay on the door frame, shut the door, then measure how high the clay was to get my switch height. As it was the switches i had purchased were too tall. I was able to disassemble and cut the switches I had to shorten them up and make them work. With the early trucks I believe lots of the switches were dealer installed so there may not be one size switch for all of them.

[54blackhornet]

Can’t understand why they weren’t standard equipment even if you had to raise the base price by what $1.37 ?

[Perpendicular]

Originally Posted by HO455

I only have experience with the wrong switch. My 67 didn't come with door switches so I had to drill the holes myself. In retrospect I would have done that before I bought the switches. Then put some clay on the door frame, shut the door, then measure how high the clay was to get my switch height. As it was the switches i had purchased were too tall. I was able to disassemble and cut the switches I had to shorten them up and make them work. With the early trucks I believe lots of the switches were dealer installed so there may not be one size switch for all of them.

Wow - that is some ingenuity I would not have thought to disassemble it...

The ones I bought for my 69 Camaro have the look I want but not the right length. They actually have a nice rubber boot on them.

I may buy another set and cut to fit - so to speak

Surprising that there isn't just a set out there. I have the holes, I have the light, just no pin switch.

Thanks for the idea!

[HO455]

The tricky part was shortening the spring. I had to trim it off bit by bit to get it right. The first one I got too short and had to locate a new spring and start over. If it is too short it won't ground the bulb and you have to pull it the last .010 to get the light to come on.

[CastIron]

I haven't actually looked at the truck switches, but I'm pretty sure the car ones are self adjusting. Are trucks the same? A new one looks too long, but adjusts to the right position when you close the door.

[HO455]

The ones I got from Classic Industries didn't seem to be as when I first installed one and very carefully shut the door the first time the switch chipped the paint and dented the door. Grrrrrrr!

[CSTGURU]

The switch in the top picture is self adjusting, when you slam the door, the sleeve slides inside the barrel nut to the correct depth. Same switch used in all 60's GM products.
If you look at 60's cars the switches will all be at different hieghts/depths.

[HO455]

I think the key word is supposed to as it obliviously didn't slide on my door. Look at the small dent and paint chip in the center of the door's front edge. Brand new reproduction part working NOT.

[ray_mcavoy]

Originally Posted by HO455

I think the key word is supposed to as it obliviously didn't slide on my door. Look at the small dent and paint chip in the center of the door's front edge. Brand new reproduction part working NOT.

Yes, they are supposed to self adjust the first time you close the door. But as you've found out, they don't always work as intended.

I usually measure the length of the old switch (if available) and then put the new switch in a vice (with the threaded end stuck into a scrap of steel pipe as a spacer) and carefully compress it in to the desired length. An alternative that might also work would be use some masking tape to temporarily attach a small piece of sheet metal to the contact area on the door ... with the idea being the extra layer of metal should reduce the chance of it denting the door and chipping the paint. Although even after they're adjusted, the normal action of the switch does tend to wear off a small spot of paint.

[HO455]

As usual I do it the hard way.