Anyone know how to get a key cylinder out of the switch, without a key?  The pin won't depress without the key, so I didn't know if there was a trick.  Thanks 

You need to pick the lock (simple) any locksmith can do this in 1 min.

It would be a shot in the dark, but you might try taking the assembly to a car show and asking owners if you can try their keys.  There weren't that many different keys back then and maybe 1 in 10 or 20 might fit.  Find a key that fits, turn it to on, push the pin down, cylinder comes out, rotate the key back to off and the key will come out.  Give them the old cylinder as a thanks if you want.  For what it's worth, back in the sixties, a friend and I would see how many cars on the Ford lot we could unlock with the keys from our cars and it was a surprising number.  Or, I have 3 keys from my Thunderbird and one of them fit the switch from my F100 and allowed me to disassemble the switch without any problem.

Don

I have never thrown out an old Ford key. Probably have one that would fit. There should be someone near you with a similar collection. When I was in high school in '62 my I had a '53 Ford 2 door sedan and one of my friends had a '53 Ford 2 door hard top. My key would open and start his car. His wouldn't open or start mine. We had a blue Dodge Caravan in the mid '90's. Wife opened the tailgate to put in groceries at WalMart and then realized it was the wrong Caravan.

Thought I saw a previous post on here where the existing key tumbler is drilled out; I don’t see that here now but I’ll say it again.  A ¼” drill can be used to put a hole into the tumbler so that the lock pins can fall out at which point the old key cylinder can be pulled out.  Trying other old keys and seeing if one of those works would be much simpler though. 

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Thank you for the replies.  Good ideas!

Haha, same story here. In high school we all knew whose keys fit whose cars. Once I was test driving a customers Subaru and used it to run an errand. I came out, got in the car and drove away only to realize it was the wrong car. I took it back and had to park it several spaces down from where I found it. I often wondered if the owner noticed.

Yes ted, i.ve done it many times.


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