Using a Passenger side lock switch in the drivers side, and vice versa

[doonze]

Ok, yeah, so it's upside down... but....it works!!! I could have installed it right side up, but then the U would have locked it and the L would have unlocked it, and the raised and recessed surfaces would have been backwards. So I just installed it upside down. The U and L had worn off on my stock one anyway, so I'm sure these won't last too long either...LOL

So anyway, I was having tons of issues with my old one, I could take it apart and fiddle with it and get it working for a bit, but then it went back out a week later every time. So I went to my local U-pull-it but they had ZERO driver side switches, and I knew from thinking I would just swap mine, that they weren't the same from side to side. But they had a passenger side switch, so I thought "I can make this work SOME way, and it's better then none". Turns out I was right.

So anyway, you can swap them, and it's pretty easy really. Just take a pair of needle nose pliers and snip off the little tab that makes them Driver side and Passenger side, and press them in. I even sanded it smooth before I tried it out, but that was overkill, just cutting it off even with the bottom of the switch and it will slide right in.

Upside down but working like a charm.

I'm sure this works for the 4 door models as well if push comes to shove. This switch was out of the passenger side of a 4 door. The 2nd gen models would even plug up, but the rocker on the top is bigger. I was thinking of rigging something up with a 2nd gen button but then I finally found this one and tossed that switch aside! LOL I think using a second gen button would require cutting the hole in the switch mount out more.

As a side note, the 2nd gen switch seemed to be from a strange body panel. It was loose on the ground and the interior pannel it was attached to was broken so I couldn't tell exactly where it was supposed to go. I almost think it was a single switch mounted in the back hatch area? My first gen doesn't have any switch back there. But the pole pattern (switch wiring) was the same as a first gen, so in a pinch it should have mated with the 1st gen wiring.


EDIT: Decided to add this extra picture to help out if needed....

So this is the drivers switch, on the passenger switch the little tab is black, and isn't L shaped but is just square. But in theory it's the same. So for example to get this one to work on the passenger side you would just want to cut off the red tab thingie even with the bottom of the switch and you would be good to go!

Also you can see the five post connection I was talking about, and at least on the 2nd gen switch I looked at they were the same there.

 

[doonze]

Added a second pic so if someone is needing to do this they can get an idea of how easy this is.