With this first snow storm we had I found my ignition very difficult to turn.
I assuming the cold was the reason.

I'm thinking I'll have to remove the ignition cylinder and clean it up.
Unless anyone has a suggestion on how to deal with this without taking everything apart to get at it?

 

Depends on the year of your truck. 87-91s are easy to remove but not sure how 92-96s are.
Trav

 

89 F150. Manual I have isn't very helpful

 

Thier is a pin at the bottom of the key cylinder. I forgot what position you put the key in but put it in the position and push the pin and the cylinder should slide right out. No need to tear into the entire column.


I will tell you if you have tilt column then more then likely your actuator is getting ready to break like most of us with tilt column have experienced.
Trav

 

No tilt. And its not an automatic, stick shift. Does that make a difference?

 

I have a dumb question: was your stearing locked when you went to turn the key?

 

Key cylinder will still come out the same I believe.

However you won't have an actuator in the column since you don't have tilt.
Trav

 

I don't think it was locked

 

I take a peek and let you know

 

My '88 f150 had a bad ignition cylinder if I remember correctly you have to turn the key and push a small pin i used a small Alan wrench and it slides out the go to the locksmith for new door cylinders to match the key

 

Every Ford truck column has an actuator.
How else would the ignition switch down at the bottom of the column get actuated??
If it is non-tilt, it will not have the problematic hinge in the middle.

The rack at the top of the actuator is what the gear at the back of the lock cylinder engages in.

Typically, stiff action when cold is because of all the dust and grit mixed in with the lubricating grease.
A good flushing of the rack and some light oil (or better yet Teflon dry lube) should have it better than normal.

If not, do look at the ignition switch itself.
These can get gunked up too.

 

That makes sense. I'll try that.

On the other stuff, did I miss something? I'm not seeing a pin to release the switch. The book I have is not helpful. Do I have to remove the wheel to get all this?

 

I know in my 1987 I had to remove the steering wheel to push the pin in.

I am not sure that your '89 is the same, but I expect it is.

 

Non tilts you have to pull the steering wheel to push the pin. The binding is usually the plunger driven by the gear at the end of lock cylinder. A good flushing with pb blaster or equivalent will usually free these up. Worst case is you have to take it apart to clean it up. It can be the switch but I haven't seen that very often.

 

I removed the lower shrouds and exposed the linkage.
Hosed the bar down and the flat gear with WD while rotating the key back and forth and that seems to have done the trick.

We'll see with the next cold snap.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

Next is that dam switch on the clutch linkage. May bypass that thing