I just read Dan Detweiler's message about the dash light rheostat and the
excellent suggestions for Dan to get the knob off. I offer this little piece
of advice - be careful when re-installing the knob! In the summer of '99, I
was hurriedly getting my car ready to drive across country to Pennsylvania
(from the Seattle area!) for the 30th anniversary celebration of the TR6 at the
Summer Party and I installed a new wooden dash and all new knobs. The new
rheostat knob was quite tight going on - and took quite a push to get to slide
on the shaft even with some lube. As I continued to push, I felt the rheostat
break apart, the shaft fell limp in the hole, and it rained little pieces from
the back side of the dash! The back of the rheostat is only held on with some
little tabs that bend around from the sides, and they can't take much force
before they straighten up and the whole thing falls apart. I didn't have time
to fix it before we left for the trip, so we had to drive 6,200 miles with only
a flashlight to see the guages at night! When we were safely home, I loosened
the dash to the "service position" and was able to remove the rheostat and put
it all back together again. Unfortunately, I broke it a second time when I
tried to get that darned knob back on, even though I was being extra careful!
So the next time I just re-used the old knob which fit a lot more easily on the
shaft, but by then I had lost a couple of the internal pieces which flew all
over the place every time the rheostat came apart so I had to spend a few hours
making new contacts, etc. before it was again operational. I also used some
epoxy to help give it a little more strength as I believe that the little tabs
probably fatigue after being bent a few times.
Rex
Townsend
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