Clutch safety switch delete

[Disco]

Since we're on the topic, I'd also suggest cutting the dash for a DIN style radio, adding a windshield visor to further reduce gas milage, drilling a hole to vent the gas cap, put some 6x9 speakers in the lower doors and anything else that annoys the Snowflakes. If you can swing it, do a LS swap and paint the valve cover mounted coils a bright contrasting color. To hell with the masses! It's your truck, do what you want with it. The snowflakes can fill out a "Hurt feelings report".

this was the best thing I’ve read all day! Lol

 

[WFO]

You can also put a hidden switch on those 2 wires for a poor boy anti theft device.

 

[SirRobyn0]

Not that the OP is going to care about this story, but to the rest of you that shared good reasons not to bypass safety devices you'll read and understand this story.

About 15 - 20 years ago I watch a truck leach forward in a shop I use to work at, pinning the mechanic between the car and a metal building pole. Because he was bent over when the truck struck him he was pinned by the shoulders. One dislocated the other side broken. The man can longer work as a mechanic and last I talked to him he expected to have life long pain. All because a clutch safety switch was bypassed, and the truck brought into the shop. No one knew.

 

[SirRobyn0]

There’s probably more than a dozen bolts holding the front clip to the frame and cab, too. But if I Had to choose which vehicle to be in a wreck with, I’d choose the Volkswagen with the crumple zones and the airbags.

Everyone freaking out about the safety concerns of bypassing the clutch switch on an inherently unsafe vehicle is like everyone freaking out about me carrying a jug of gasoline into a burning building with me. Is putting a jug of gas in a fire a bad idea? Yes. Doesn’t change the fact that I’M ALREADY ON FIRE! Lol

I'm sure you have no desire to read what I'm about to write so maybe just skip this post or talk to someone else about while I post this..... I don't think anyone is freaking out. With the low number of posts you have I'd hazard a guess that none of us know you very well. So we all are just trying to help you out with a friendly warning. You don't want that bit of help or advice and that's fine, you have the info you were after......

 

[Disco]

Not that the OP is going to care about this story, but to the rest of you that shared good reasons not to bypass safety devices you'll read and understand this story.

About 15 - 20 years ago I watch a truck leach forward in a shop I use to work at, pinning the mechanic between the car and a metal building pole. Because he was bent over when the truck struck him he was pinned by the shoulders. One dislocated the other side broken. The man can longer work as a mechanic and last I talked to him he expected to have life long pain. All because a clutch safety switch was bypassed, and the truck brought into the shop. No one knew.

Cool story (you asked for the sarcasm)! Three things:
1) for this to apply to me, my truck would have to go to a shop.
2) this could have happened in ANY of the multitudes of vehicles that did not come equipped with a clutch switch in the first place.
3) someone didn’t do their job. Why were the keys in the ignition? Why was the vehicle not chocked? Why was the mechanic over the front of the vehicle while it was being started? There were SO many other safety procedures not followed, I don’t think we can blame that on the clutch switch.

 

[Vbb199]

You can also put a hidden switch on those 2 wires for a poor boy anti theft device.

The manual trans IS the anti theft device, sir lol

 

[Disco]

I'm sure you have no desire to read what I'm about to write so maybe just skip this post or talk to someone else about while I post this..... I don't think anyone is freaking out. With the low number of posts you have I'd hazard a guess that none of us know you very well. So we all are just trying to help you out with a friendly warning. You don't want that bit of help or advice and that's fine, you have the info you were after......

This is my last post on the matter.

I’m talking about how even after I’ve pointed out that while I understand the reasons for the concern, I disagree with them, and I was only looking for a yes or no answer in the first place. However, nearly everyone who has posted to this thread wants to beat me over the head with the safety bible for not wanting to deal with replacing an already broken switch on a old pickup that will only be driven by me! I’m not disabling a functioning safety device, I’m bypassing a switch that is currently in 3 pieces.

Mechanic shops? I do my own mechanical work, and what few things I don’t do (like tires), I do “customer pull in/out” on. Plus, with this being an old truck with an analog odometer, there would be no good reason any tech would need to put the key in the ignition while it was there.
I do care about safety. I really do. If the switch wasn’t already broken, I wouldn’t be messing around with it. But ALL of the plastic in this truck is sun baked and really brittle, and I know if I start dismantling the dash to get access to the switch’s mounting point, I will have to replace more than half the plastic parts in the dash as they start crumbling at my touch.
I will replace these things - and probably the switch, too, although that hidden immobilizer switch idea is a good one… - eventually, but I’m not ready for a restoration job. I just need the damn truck running and driving so I can haul some things from the hardware store or to the dump…
My point is, and has been, that since I was 15, I have owned 17 vehicles, including this truck. Of those 17, only 5 have had slushboxes, and of the 12 manuals only 3 of them have had clutch switches: a 2004 Jetta, a 2007 Suzuki, and a 78 Chevy truck… the other cars range from years 1971-2000. That’s right, my 2000 Dodge Neon did NOT have a clutch switch, nor did my 95 Jetta. Point: a large majority of vehicles with manual transmissions DID NOT COME EQUIPPED with clutch switches.

 

[SquareRoot]

Like I said earlier...its your truck, screw the masses. I bet this proud owner removed his NSS.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[Vbb199]

That mf got a 2 speed power glide,
What nss ? LOL

Just to be honest.......... and don't tell anyone.. .


Nothing I have has nss anymore, except my wife's suv.
For good reason too.
She's just driving it, not fixing it and not diagnosing issues.

 

[Disco]

Like I said earlier...its your truck, screw the masses. I bet this proud owner removed his NSS.

You must be registered for see images attach

This made me chuckle. It’s a… unique rig, to say the least. I bet it gets plenty of attention at shows…

 

[Bextreme04]

These are some very extreme examples and only the Toyota is really relevant to my original post. Military equipment is extremely dangerous and should never be tampered with. Same goes for commercial and industrial equipment. But as far as a clutch switch in an old Chevy truck where most of them barely have FLOORS… I think you’re worried over nothing.

That Toyota tale… how fast did that thing idle? Did he not have the brake set? He couldn’t walk beside it, open the door, and turn off the ignition or knock it out of gear or slam on the brake? Seems like we’re missing part of the story. The few times I’ve accidentally started the car in gear (before the muscle memory of “clutch in, wiggle stick” set in), the vehicle jumped a little before I uttered an expletive and let go of the key, and it didn’t even cover a distance of 12 inches.

Everyone has their own level of risk acceptance. You are having to do a whole lot of justification of why its not unsafe... when it is obviously an added risk. I'm not saying people are definitely going to die if you do it, just pointing out it is an increased risk. Also, military stuff isn't "extremely dangerous and shouldn't be tampered with". Its often a simplified version of civilian equipment with a ****** paint job slapped on it.

As for the toyota, he was in the drivers seat and just starting it up after an oil change. The truck did something unexpected and he froze(it happens.. I've seen experienced combat vets just freeze and lock up when things go bad) with his hand holding it in the start position until after it slammed into the apartment building. Things happen fast, especially in a situation where this is likely to occur. Someone is distracted, maybe sleep deprived, maybe inexperienced, and the truck does something scary and completely unexpected.

I'm guilty of bypassing stuff for troubleshooting and expedience too, it just seems like a stupid additional risk to add when its a cheap part that only takes a few minutes to replace and is obviously reliable enough to have lasted the last 45 years. You aren't going to be doing any less work by bypassing it, and if something DOES happen you could be liable for any injuries or death that happens as a result.

 

[SquareRoot]

The issue I had with my switch is the self adjusting feature. It sets at the lowest point the pedal is depressed. So, it only takes one time of pushing the pedal to the floor and thats where it sets itself. Now everytime you start it you have to push the pedal all the way to the floor. Fair enough.

However, My clutch is new and adjusted to where it should be. I'm happy with it. The problem is if I push the clutch in much past the point it disengages it "overtravels" which is annoying and I'm sure not good for the diaphragm fingers.

Short of rigging some sort of clutch pedal travel limiting stop, it was just easier to S..tc..n the switcharoo.

 

[SquareRoot]

Here's my thread about it back when...

Electrical plug for clutch switch...

I converted my 85 from auto to manual. The new clutch safety switch has two female plugs. One is for the starter interrupt,. not sure what the other is for but it doesn't matter. Anyway, there's no way to use female connectors on it, the male spades are embedded in the plastic plug. Anybody...

www.gmsquarebody.com

I don't know if yours is the same. Someone should ask me about my pedal assembly mods when I swapped in the 4500. juicy.

 

[bucket]

Not that the OP is going to care about this story, but to the rest of you that shared good reasons not to bypass safety devices you'll read and understand this story.

About 15 - 20 years ago I watch a truck leach forward in a shop I use to work at, pinning the mechanic between the car and a metal building pole. Because he was bent over when the truck struck him he was pinned by the shoulders. One dislocated the other side broken. The man can longer work as a mechanic and last I talked to him he expected to have life long pain. All because a clutch safety switch was bypassed, and the truck brought into the shop. No one knew.

But how is this the fault of the clutch switch? Why was the vehicle being started without pushing in the clutch? I'm assuming that the operator assumed it was in neutral and just wanted to crank it over? If that is the case, they were aware that there was not a functional clutch safety switch. Also, even if there was an operational switch and they pushed in the clutch, since they thought it was in neutral, if they started it then the vehicle would have lurched forward anyway when they let up on the clutch.

There may be more details, but at the moment to someone that was not there, it certainly seems like the operator was 100% at fault. For either not checking to be sure it was in neutral, or not paying attention and thinking the vehicle had an auto trans.

 

[Bextreme04]

But how is this the fault of the clutch switch? Why was the vehicle being started without pushing in the clutch? I'm assuming that the operator assumed it was in neutral and just wanted to crank it over? If that is the case, they were aware that there was not a functional clutch safety switch. Also, even if there was an operational switch and they pushed in the clutch, since they thought it was in neutral, if they started it then the vehicle would have lurched forward anyway when they let up on the clutch.

There may be more details, but at the moment to someone that was not there, it certainly seems like the operator was 100% at fault. For either not checking to be sure it was in neutral, or not paying attention and thinking the vehicle had an auto trans.

It's not about fault. Accidents are almost never a single point. They are a chain of failures, mistakes, or oversights that all come together to have this bad outcome. In aircraft accident investigations they are often referred to as "Accident chains" and "finding the hole in the swiss cheese". In @SirRobyn0's story it was the final link in the chain. There had to be some other failure in there, but the final link that "should" have prevented the injury had been bypassed and was non-functional.