Any ideas?

[NotMyBest2Day]

The ignition lock on my truck broke yesterday, so I got a new one. What I'm trying to figure out though is how to pull the key out without the lock being in the "lock" position. The one that's broke has done that for..years. I know there's some little mechanism inside that holds the key in and I can't seem to find it from the outside but don't know how to get inside without breaking the whole thing. Something I'm thinking of is to sand the side of the key down to make it narrower and it might get past the mechanism.

Any ideas? I think I might just try to repair the one that's still in my truck now though.

[Joe]

gotta be a little more specific lol ... like what kind of car? lol

[NotMyBest2Day]

'75 Chevy C10. There was a set of instructions for how to change the lock and I'm stuck on the last step. There's a spring that holds the lock inside the column and the instructions say to push on the spring and pull the lock out at the same time and it isn't coming. I think I'm just going to go Nascar-style and put a couple toggle switches on the dash. :D

[Joe]

hummm ... I say just go theif style and bust the ignition out and use s screw driver :) lol

[NotMyBest2Day]

I ended up doing an even mix between ghetto-fied and Nascar-fied.

I got a rocker switch that's good for 30 amps and a toggle switch for 20. Both are illuminated. Since the ignition lock broke on the 'ignition on' setting, half the wires from the column were powered. I've been under the dash before when it was off and there's only one or two that are powered.

There were two 10-gauge wires and I knew one of them got powered on with ignition because I have the radio and tach tapped off that line, and with a contact tester, the other one was hot, too. so I got some wire cutters and chopped one and the radio and tach were still on, so I chopped the other and everything shut off. I touched the ends together for both sets and crossed them back and forth and every combination turned the ignition back on.

I tied them together (feed in, feed out) and put the 30A switch on those, and with a jumper on the feed out to the 20A that went to the feed out for the starter solenoid. Grounded both switches and now the ignition is controlled by the 30A rocker, and the starter is done by the 20A toggle.

Rocker on, it lights up, starter on, also lights up, then turn the starter off when the engine fires up, and turn the rocker off and everything shuts off. I can turn the rocker back on for radio and such. Mission accomplished. It's pretty ghetto, but I needed to fix my only mode of transportation. I'd like to do like the headlights and such with toggle switches (I'm thinking like 10-15 on the dash total), but I don't want to do that right now. When the truck is a project/hobby, sure, but not right now.

Oh, and the broken ignition switch is still in the dash. The key doesn't have to be in it, and if it gets put to lock accidentally, it doesn't matter, it doesn't lock the wheel, either. :rolleyes: It's pretty fail-safe.