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switch nut tool

Printed From: TheAMCForum.com
Category: The Garage
Forum Name: Tool Tips and fabrication
Forum Description: For tips, hints or "how-to" related to fabricating your own tools. Perhaps a neat home-made or special purpose tool you have come up with (safety first, of course!).
URL: https://theamcforum.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=88862
Printed Date: Mar/28/2024 at 4:18pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.03 - http://www.webwizforums.com


Topic: switch nut tool
Posted By: billd
Subject: switch nut tool
Date Posted: Jul/31/2017 at 8:28pm
having spent the last 47 years using everything from screwdrivers to needle-nose pliers, and even other odds and ends, to remove those deep slotted nuts that hold the wiper and headlight switch into the dash of our cars, I looked around for a proper tool. 
Sorry to the eBay seller of such a tool, but really - 22 bucks? Really? It's a cylinder with a couple of narrow squared teeth spaced just right, and deep enough to straddle the switch shaft. Nothing more, nothing less. 
Hmmm...........
I dug through my tool box and found the small box of broken or worn out sockets. Among them was a well-used 3/8" drive deep socket.
I rigged a way to mount it solidly to the bed of my little mill and slowly cut the sides of the end of the socket away, leaving just enough to just fit into the dash nut slots. I cut the sides away far enough down so the teeth left sticking up would just bottom, but not too long, so the socket would be easy to square against the face of the nut. 
About 10 minutes and zero dollars later I had a dash switch nut socket that I could use a ratchet on if necessary, and that was still plated save for where I cut with the end cutter to form the teeth that fit into the nut's slots. I could still plate that end if I wished but why - unless I leave it laying somewhere it can get wet it shouldn't be a problem. 
I'll try to remember to get a picture later. 

So if you have a worn or even cracked deep socket, and a mill, or even a Dremel tool with a metal cutting wheel, you can make such a tool for far less than $22.

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Replies:
Posted By: 73Gremlin401
Date Posted: Aug/01/2017 at 9:56am
Excellent solution.  As one of the buyers of said $22 tool, yes, it does work, but only a couple of times.  The teeth on it are very fragile, and on my 3rd junkyard trip to snag a few switches, a tooth broke off without much effort, and I was out of business.

so yes, using a hardened socket makes a bit more sense long term.


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73 Gremlin 401/5-spd.
77 Matador Wagon 360/727.
81 Jeep J10 LWB 360/4-spd
83 Concord DL 4-dr 258/auto



Posted By: matty 401
Date Posted: Aug/29/2017 at 4:21pm
on the headlight ones i have used a blade screwdriver  a lot 

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72 matador 401 the beast
79 concord 2 door
72 matador 304 grasshopper
68 Rogue 406
93 Cherokee 4.0 5 speed




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