'59 Plymouth Forum

Since I'm rewiring my Suburban, I want to replace the turn signal cam that all the wires in the steering column shaft connect to.

Anyone know where I can get a new cam? (not sure if "cam" is the right term for this part)

Thanks for any help......Ron

Hi ROn,
not to be mean, but our cars are 47 years old. The cams are not available as new, unless you can find them from an NOS supplier, such as Len Dawson.
A gently used cam should function just fine, in my opinion.
Good luck!

Our cars are 47 years old Roger?? 49 is more like it lol

Bob

oh yeah! thanks!

You might try jcauto@jcauto.com

Ron - You may be referring to the "Directional Signal Switch". This is located in steering column just underneath steering wheel. It's shaped like a half moon, bakelite material, with six wires (brn, tan, red, green, light green, and white). I have a broken one here. You can find NOS ones on Ebay frequently. Wires become brittle and break. You can probably resolder but in any case this is a good item to have as a spare.

Yup, it's the turn signal switch.....not the cam. I think I actually found a NOS switch at antiquemopar.com He's having trouble getting the pics I sent him but thinks he has it (some of his are missing the part # which I think is 1704758. Anyway, I'll post it if he has it. Oh yeah, the bad news is that it's EIGHTY FIVE BUCKS. But since I'm rewiring my whole Suburban, I really want to replace this with NOS if I can, so no worries later.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys! Ron

Wow, I have at least one "used" one here I'd gladly sell for $15..but of course I took my camera in today for repair so I cannot show it
Roger

1704758 is actually called a Directional Signal Switch Canceling Pawl.
The plate with 6 wires soldered to it is called Directional Signal Switch.
The switch comes in two styles..one for power steering, one for manual.
Power Steering Switch=1841724
Manual Steering Switch= 1838260
I have available one or two "used" switches for p/s.

Hey Roger, thanks for the part numbers. I wouldn't have guessed that they were different for power steering and manual steering. Ron

well, at $85, I wanted you to KNOW what you are paying for!
I am glad to help, whenever I can.

I did some digging and found the ebay papers when I bought my NOS switch back on May 30, 2002. I won the bid at $23.50 and S&H was $4.50 for a total of $28. I bought it from Frank Mitchell (fmmpar). I even found the parts envelop it came in. On envelope it says "Directional Signal Switch" with wires-color coded. Part No. is M-503. List of vehicles it fits is Ply, Dodge, Desoto, Chrysler, and Imperial - all 1958-59 Models. Don't know what that M-503 stands for but that was the only part # on package.

As far as pwr steering and non- pwr steering switches - if I remember correctly it seems as if I took the switch from one of my non-pwr steering Furys and put it in my pwr steering Sport Fury temporarily until I found a new switch. But now it seems I never put the new one in as I just found it in my parts stash. It looks like new but it was not with the envelope I mentioned. (sorry Ron, I gotta keep it as a spare) Anyway,,,If it were me I'd wait until one pops up on Ebay.

going off topic here, John..you have a factory a/c car...
I was under the dash on Saturday, trying to correct the tubing routing for the pushbuttons. (if i push a/c I get heat) I unplugged the stuff from the pushbutton vacuum unit so I could trace down the tubes...suddenly there was a spark and wires started melting.
It was the power feed from the temperature gauge, as well as some wire leading to the heater fan. In retrospect, I probably messed up by using "similar-but-not-exact" harness bits from other cars I've stripped out.
I will try to re-construct, using the diagram on Supplement page 87
You've told me previously that you don't live where your car is garaged.
Because you are the only factory a/c owner I know

Evidently I never completed my previous post..so sorry! Must have dozed off or got distracted. What I meant to write is you are the ONLY one I know of whose car has factory original factory a/c.
I will re-wire what burnt out , this time following the 59Plymouth Supplement. If I again get problems, I am gonna be bugging YOU for help!
Roger

Seeing there is a separate switch for pwr and manual steering and I used a manual on my pwr steering..... I think what I did was separate the bad bakelite switch (with the 6 wires attached) from the metal box that contains the signal slider and attached the good bakelite to the metal slider box that is on my pwr steering column. (confused yet) There are 4 little bendable tabs that connects the two so that is very doable. I did this 6 years ago so memory is kind of fuzzy, but my old broken bakelite that I took off does not contain that metal slider box so that is what I must have done. My point is - if you can get a manual switch but need a pwr switch or vice versa, maybe you can adapt. Maybe someone else can confirm what my fuzzy memory is trying to recall.