Trouble re-assembling dimmer switch

[TonyN]

Hello all,

I am having some trouble re-assembling my dimmer switch casing after replacing the chrome wheel.

I am attaching a few pics from lilwendal's thread for reference. My dimmer switch is the one on the left.

My questions:

1) On the far left of the parts pic, there is a washer that looks like a penny with a hole in it. Where does that one go? I currently have it between the big white wheel and the grey tooth/gear.

2) I am guessing the 'slant' bit on the grey tooth/gear is supposed to push the copper bar up into contact with the switch case. Is that correct?

3) Further to that, I am having trouble lining up the gears from the chrome wheel, the white half-gear and the grey tooth/gear. Is there a technique to that?

4) The dimmer wheel itself is a bit wobbly (left to right). I am wondering, is that where the penny-washer is supposed to go?

I did my best coming up with descriptors. Let me know if I need to elaborate on anything.

Thanks,

Tony

[TonyN]

I got it.

[bull]

Glad you got it because there's probably not too many people here who've taken one apart. Actually, it'd be kind of cool to tell us how you did it.

[cdr]

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,37999.msg418012.html#msg418012

[TonyN]

I wish I was keeping notes as I was doing it. That 'penny washer' provided tension/push to force the rheostat and the copper 'arm' together. The biggest challenge, since it was a rotating device, was where to 'start' everything so when you rotated it, so it moved the correct amount up and down.

Again, I wish I took better notes, but I was so glad to get the thing put back together I just put it in the dash.

Aside from having to fiddle to get the line up correctly, it went together quite logically.

[jlatessa]

The only trouble I had after using a screw and nut in the thumb wheel was that it wouldn't
fit in the dash housing, I had to grind a little relief for the nut and screw head.

If you are able to rivet it back together, you shouldn't have a problem.

As an aside, if the rheostat coil is loose, I used a porcelain touch-up (for appliances)
to re-bed the coil into the ceramic wheel, works great! Just make sure you keep it off the contact area.

Joe