How to Replace Combination Switch 1994-2002 Dodge Ram 1500

Hey friends, it's Len here at 1A Auto. Today we're going to be working on our 1996 Dodge Ram 1500. I want to show you something fairly basic: replacing the multifunction switch. It's super easy. I can do it and you can do it too. As always, if you need this part or any other part, check us out at 1aauto.com. Thanks.

Okay, so one of the first things you want to do, grab this, pull it towards you, and lift up your steering column. Now you have a clear view of what's going on under here. You've got a T20 right here, which looks like this. It's like a little star head tool. You're going to have another one right here, and then another one on the other side of the steering column. All three are the same size. Start with whichever one you want. You do you, Boo Boo.

That one seems to be stuck in there, but it's ready to come out. Get this one. There we you. Grab all the screws for you, show you what we're dealing with. We've got our center screw, and then the two sides. Put that in there. Just going to grab this, bring it back down. Now we're going to grab some pliers and we're going to turn this so it's nice and loose. I'm just going to try to grab onto the metal part of it, obviously. Turn it to the left, counter-clockwise, hopefully enough to break it free. I can get it by hand now. It's threaded. Take this off of here. Awesome. Here's our multifunction switch. Let's continue.

So to continue this job, you're going to have to use a T20 like you've been using, but it needs to be the tamper-proof. You see in the center of this tool, there's a little dot. That's concaved in. When you look at the screws inside the vehicle, there's a little dot that comes protruding out in the center. That makes it so you can't take a tool that looks like this and put it in there. That little nub in the center there is going to prevent it from being able to go in and do its job. So you're going to need a tamper-proof T20.

I'm going to take out this bottom mounting screw right here. Crank this puppy up a little bit. Need more power. There we are. And grab this one. Awesome. Grab this, and grab our screws out of here so we don't lose them. That's what they look like. It's a little up close and personal for you.

Okay, so we have our electrical connector. That's held on by another T20 bolt. That's what it looks like. Set that aside, grab our connector, give it a nice little wiggle here. And here, my friends, is our multifunction switch.

So here we are, friends, a quick product comparison. Right here we have our original multifunction switch out of our 1996 Dodge Ram 1500. Over here, we have our brand new quality 1A Auto part. Both these parts are created the same. You've got the same shape. You've got a mounting hole here, mounting hole there. Same as on the original. Four way switch. Awesome. Directionals. Wiper blades. You have the area for your electrical connector in the back. It looks exactly the same. Everything looks the same.

With that said, I don't see any reason why this wouldn't be a quality part to install into the vehicle, so I'm going to go ahead and do it. As always, if you need this or any other part, you can check us at 1aauto.com. Thanks.

All right, so we'll just grab our electrical connector. We're going to bring it right over to the multifunction switch. Slide it in. Awesome. Let's give it a little test. I'm going to grab my key. Left directional, right directional, hazard lights. Perfect. I love it. Let's finish up the install. We're going to take our wiring harness mounting bolt, put it in through the backside here. Should slide right into the hole. Start it in by hand, just to make sure you've got threads going right. Take your T20, make sure that's nice and snug. Last thing we want us in the electrical connection bouncing around.

We're just going to take this, bring it in. We're going to line up the mounting holes with the mounting holes on the steering column itself. You can see one right here, and the other one... Get the plow thing out of the way. The other one's right there. Okay. So we'll grab our two mounting bolts. We're going to grab our tamper-proof T20, and we can continue.

So we've got one right here. I'm just going to start it in right there. Let's give it a couple of threads. We're not going to fully tighten it down. We still need to be able to move this around. Come down here. Now that both of them are started, we can go ahead and snug them up. Awesome. Oh yeah, high beams. We didn't check high beams. Those definitely work. Awesome.

So here we are. We're going to take this, put it right over the top. Easy peasy. I'm going to grab my little arm. I'm going to put it all the way down and in. I'll show you where it is. Right here. Okay. So essentially it's going to go through this plastic, and then it's going to screw right into this hole. Once you have it in the hole, you can do this and the steering wheel will move. Just find the whole again. Awesome. I'm just going to snug this by hand. Awesome. So when you give it a tug, you release, it locks in. Bonk, bonk, bonk.

I'm going to put it in the upward position. Let me grab my lower plate, and we'll start bolting this in. Get our three bolts. Right up here, just like that. Take this, pick whichever hole you want to start with.

Awesome. Easy peasy.

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