Restoring Rusty

[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.

[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

[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]

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]

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

[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

[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

[enaberif]

Christ at the point you have that steering column I'd be ripping it out and shortening it the 3" you need lol.

[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.

[Titomars]

deleted, double post

[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.

[rich weyand]

Originally Posted by Gregski

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

That's what she said.

I felt the same way when I first got my truck five years ago, but haven't felt that way in years. It was a different driving style then, not just in our trucks. You can hang your arm on the window sill (now they are all up to your ears) and steer with two fingers on the highway. You can palm the wheel around the corners in town. You can have your right hand in your lap on the highway and steer with your fingers from there.

The whole European style, rack and pinion, small wheel, high steering effort, hands at 10 and 2 driving style requires the wheel to be further out in front of you so you can get some leverage on it, and you need most of your arm length just to reach them. The car mags all thought this was great when they took the cars to the track, and that's what I preferred on autocross courses 35-40 years ago myself.

But I used to do a lot of cross-country driving in domestic cars in the 1970s, and I think the common driving position then was much easier and less fatiguing for off-track driving.

[greg64]

Originally Posted by rich weyand

That's what she said.

I felt the same way when I first got my truck five years ago, but haven't felt that way in years. It was a different driving style then, not just in our trucks. You can hang your arm on the window sill (now they are all up to your ears) and steer with two fingers on the highway. You can palm the wheel around the corners in town. You can have your right hand in your lap on the highway and steer with your fingers from there.

The whole European style, rack and pinion, small wheel, high steering effort, hands at 10 and 2 driving style requires the wheel to be further out in front of you so you can get some leverage on it, and you need most of your arm length just to reach them. The car mags all thought this was great when they took the cars to the track, and that's what I preferred on autocross courses 35-40 years ago myself.

But I used to do a lot of cross-country driving in domestic cars in the 1970s, and I think the common driving position then was much easier and less fatiguing for off-track driving.

I'm with you guys on new car/truck style, or the lack of it. Good aerodynamics have been the death of style. Plus people wanted their cars quieter, and that's pretty hard to achieve with style (air buffeting sound).

And I'll also agree that the 70s driving position was more comfortable. I've driven my truck across Canada about 6 times now. That's about 36,000 miles. It's really comfortable, just noisy. The only real problem is the self-retracting seat belts, but I have a bandaid for that.

But about the steering wheel position, I think most race cars are setup with the wheel close to the driver's chest to *increase* their steering strength. Just look at nascar cars. I think the wheels were moved away from the drivers as soon as air bags came on the scene. My guess is the manufacturers are worried about the injuries that might be caused by having the steering wheel too close to the person's chest when it deploys.

[rusty76]

I drive a toaster everyday to work. It only does lightly toasted to burnt and that's it. It has AC, Power steering and a radio. That's it. No fancy power windows that mess up later in life or those doomaflogees that tell you when you are close to somebody. It don't even have carpet, lol. No extended cab or crew cab either. So basic Terminex probably thinks it's one of their trucks......

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by rusty76

So basic Terminex probably thinks it's one of their trucks......

Best line eva!!!

[Gregski]

So got the steering column back together and now we can get back to business

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by Chaplain

As usual. Nice job sir. Thanks for another tutorial.

You're welcome I appreciate the kind words

[Gregski]

I just had to get the truck out of the garage and snap some pics of the newly painted hood, not bad I think

[motornut]

Originally Posted by Gregski

I just had to get the truck out of the garage and snap some pics of the newly painted hood, not bad I think

yup,looks good