1966 Chevy turn signal replacement

I had to replace the cancel arm on my turn signal switch when my wife and I were in between places. While moving I was trying to make a turn and the cancel arm in my turn signal switch  broke on me, but the rest of the switch was fine so I ordered a new arm and thought it would be a simple fix, then I realized  that I had to disconnect the whole switch from the steering column and this is one type of repair I have never done.

When I was going to tear into this project, I was thinking back when my father would run into this kind of problem with one of the family’s cars. He would always bring up that you would have to ground the steering shaft to the metal of the car in order to get the turn signal switch to properly work. To this day I have never seen it done, not even when I worked construction as a Heavy Duty Mechanic.

        

As I started this I tried to memorize and picture each step to memory for future reference. So if by chance I may have to do it again for anyone else. I fed the harness down through the steering column first, which was not an easy task because it is a tight fit, once I had connection fed through I don’t connect it to the truck yet.  I make sure the harness is free from obstruction. It must move freely. Now I’m ready to ground steering column to the body of the truck.

 

I made a 12 gauge automotive test wire, I put an alligator clip on one end and I stripped the other end 2 1/4 inches off with enough wire showing to wrap it around the steering shaft to give me a perfect ground.  Once everything was secure in place I could finally plug in my turn signal harness into my truck to see if everything is working. And Viola!!!! We have turn signals!!

The first grounding of my steering column to fix my turn signal switch is a success!!!