99 f150 my headlight/fog lt **** pulled right off in my hand the other day when i pulled for the fog function one of the plastic tabs on the center rod broke off and the **** wouldnt stay on after that


me being mr curious i thought the black trim around the **** and dim control was just a cover held in by tabs/or clips and if i got a screwdriver behind it i could pop it off and see what holds the switch in....WRONG!...i broke the front cover off a sealed switch so now i can see all the circuits and parts inside it (i will attach a pic in the event anyone ever wondered what is in there)

so after that happened and i went in the house to warm up from the 10 degree temps and order another switch i returned to the project it became apparent that the dash panel the switch is in would have to come out and there must be screws on the back side of the switch

my issue is after i had taken out roughly 12-14 screws from a total of 3 dash panels that overlap i am down to 1 screw that is holding but i dont know how it was put in where it is and have evaluated all possibilities i could come up with for removing it and i am left with....break the plastic support brace that it goes into which appears to be part of the switch and is directly behind the switch and has 2 sides closed ( see pic to get what i am looking at )

 

Not trying to hurt your feelings but you should have asked for the correct way to remove the switch first. When in doubt give a shout, lots of good people here willing to help.

Pretty sure your 99 is set up the same as my 97 - if so the correct way is
Write down radio preset stations, disconnect the battery, turn the headlight switch to the on position, pull the **** out, insert a pick or very small screwdriver into the hole on the **** where it fits over the shaft, remove the **** and turn it 180dgrees, put **** back on the shaft, turn **** counter clockwise until the back of the **** is at the off position, then turn the **** clockwise fully and the switch will pop out, pull the switch toward you and disconnect the electrical connectors.
For install just connect the electrical connectors and push it into the dash.

At this point you already have a new switch so if needed bust the old one up being carefully not to break anything but the old switch.
Good Luck

p

 

ron thanks for the quick reply i just jumped into actions without putting much thought into it and it wasnt the first and sure wont be the last time that part of my personality will get me in trouble ...


in any case after doing some web searching i found on another forum somone had disassembled a switch like this to change the leds to a diff color backlight and it gave a few how tos but seeing as how my front cover is already broken off i found out that in my 3rd pic the black T shaped part between the knobshaft and the dimmer control is the release mechanism it is spring loaded and has to be moved to the right there is 1 small tab coming out at the bottom of the T two small tabs coming out at the top and one large one at the top left corner of the switch (left side of the hoizontal T part)i would find it hard to access these without seeing where to point the screwdriver and you see where i ended up by gently prying on the face cover .....so maybe youre method of fiddling with the **** is the way to go ....


but hopefully i will not have to try it because i hope the new switch lasts as long as the truck