I thought you were working on it that way. From beneath is terrible.

On the 1986 switch you have two choices to get the **** off.

1. Feel the switch on the side opposite where the wires plug in. There should be a little button. You can go out and take the battery cable off, and then come back in, pull the headlight switch **** out all the way, and then push down on that button and pull the **** again and the **** and the rod the **** is mounted on will come out. I suppose you might have already done some of this if you are working on it from below.

2. Look at the headlight switch ****. On the back side near the shaft there should be a notch with a metal tang in it. Take a hook tool of some sort and lift up on the tang, and the **** should slide off the shaft.

Then take the wiper **** off. Use method #2 for this ****.

Take the short shroud off the steering column near the cluster. When you take this shroud off, you should see a plastic tube with a string in it. This is if you have a automatic. BE CAREFUL WITH THIS TUBE AND STRING. It goes to the PRND21 indicator in the cluster. It's very easy to break. Take it loose from the column, the string and then the tube.

Take the screws out of the cluster and pull it forward as much as you can. Reach back in there and take the wiring plug loose. Pull on it some more, the speedometer cable will still have it though. Reach back in there and you will feel a plastic piece on the speedometer at the end of the cable. Push this plastic piece sideways, it should release from the speedometer, and the cluster will then come out.

Now is the time to replace any lights. If you can't hardly see the speedometer and your gauges, you can take the lights out, and take a small screwdriver or pencil, and stick down where the lights went and poke out the lenses. They get old and cloud up and don't let any light through. After this the lights will be nice and bright, but the cluster will have a yellow tint. I don't mind this, but some people do and buy colored lights instead.

Check the copper circuits where the plug went in. If any of them are loose or wrinkled, you can smooth them out, and a careful dab of superglue on the back of them will glue them back to the plastic.

 

Thanks bud! The truck got parked Saturday morning. I had my kids all weekend and I try not to take my attention away from them unless absolutely necessary. You read my mind about the instrument lights, I planned on doing as much as I could while everything was apart. I watched a video on how to remove the sleeve from the steering column and planned on starting that while I wait for parts. I just wasn’t sure if there would be enough slack in that harness to justify going through the trouble. Is there an LED option for the instrument panel lights?

 

I’ve gotten the new switch and the new connectors (8 and 9 wire). Huge problem........they don’t interface. On the 1987 switch there is 9 wires, what is the 9th wire for? Is it possible for me to put a 1987 switch in and use the 9 wire connector I have?

 

Did you plan on retro-fitting that switch? I always wondered if you could.

Ok, I just did some research. The switches are basically the same except the later model switch has an extra set of contacts and wires because the later models had digital radios, and they used this extra set of wires to dim the display when the headlights were switched on. They have the terminals labeled in my diagram, look to see if your switch terminals are labeled the same.

Terminal letter----------------wire designation and color

B---------------------------------Headlight power coming in, Black/orange wire

A---------------------------------Marker light power coming in, Tan/white wire

DN------------------------------Dim the display power on new switch, do not use.

D1-------------------------------Domelight power coming in, lightgreen/yellow wire

D2-------------------------------Domelight power going out, black/pink wire

IGN------------------------------Power coming in for the Dim the display, do not use

I----------------------------------Power going out to the cluster and dash lights, lightblue/red wire

R---------------------------------Power going out for the marker lights, brown wire

H--------------------------------Power going out to the high/low beam switch for the headlights, red/yellow wire.

 

Here's a layout of the original 86 switch for reference purposes.

 

that is exactly why i said to take the old switch to the auto parts store. this way you would get the proper part.

 

I got the proper switch, the problem is there isn’t a pigtail available that fits the switch. Both of mine are toast.

 

Thanks bud

 

if the different pigtail plugs onto the switch, just wire it up as in the truck and do not use the extra wire. tape off the end and ignore it.