Left switchgear reassembly - stumped

[Rich82GS750TZ]

I once found a suitable weight spring inside one of those cheap bic (maybe) mechanical pencils, cut to the proper length, to replace the one in either the clutch or brake lever switch when one of the little suckers decided to liberate itself upon disassembly. The springs in all the click pens in the house were much too heavy in comparison to one in the mechanical pencil.

[exzachtly1]

On further reflection I don't think your bike has self cancel. From looking at the hand control photos it seems one of the copper contacts is missing along with a ball that the spring pushes on to create a detent. Can that rectangular piece be reversed so the spring would push up, pushing a ball? Is there a detent position in the plastic rail that the ball would slide against?

Hopefully I'm understanding your question - this picture might help. There are detents on the bottom of the plastic rail, that seem to align with the hole at the bottom of the switch. It looks like if I had a spring and a ball bearing there, that would be the mechanism to "lock" the switch into the 3 positions L/Center/R.

And that spring that goes in the channel (top red line)... I assume it is not a necessity from what I can tell. Probably just there to add a little better "feel" when you're flipping the switch left and right.

If my assumptions are correct then I think the highlighted missing spring and ball bearing are the critical items I'm missing? I can't tell if the other copper contact is needed or not... it does seem to function fine w/o it.

[AND to be clear - I only have one spring... I'm just moving it around for the photos]

assuming your "L" model has a very similar system....
MY 82 650G does not have self-canceling signals. I don't think any of the 650s do.

My 650G uses the same switch for turn-signals (left-right) and Headlight HI/Lo beam up/down. There is no off-on switch for the headlight.

using the assembly from a different Japanese bike can be tricky...but they pretty much can all be made to work because they mostly all have the same controls and handlebar diameter. I've had a Honda one on this bike when I wanted running lights on a windjammer...

But Id be more interested in keeping the old one where possible. Singular component replacement is often impossibly expensive as you see Ebay can be your friend here...-the whole assembly is what you might find so...while I think those springs are smaller than a ball-point pen spring, if you have a junk pile or even a drawer, such things are often available in other objects....

Yep, that's exactly how mine works.

You MIGHT find the same size spring in: the clutch safety switch, the horn button, the brake switch...not saying to destroy these but...they are all cheaper assemblies ...and you might have a junkpile for all I know.

No luck on the junkpile items. I found a decent looking assortment at home depot that I might try... https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt...3554/203133714 but that doesn't solve the missing ball bearing. Amazon has some assortments of ball bearings. https://www.amazon.com/Hilitchi-Metric-Precision-Bearing-Assortment/dp/B07VNSDLWS/ref=sr_1_13... but like many of these items, if I buy that then I will probably end up with 509 ball bearings that I'll never need haha. But could be a good thing to have around the house

[exzachtly1]

Seems the spring and ball bearing need to be in the neighborhood of 3.5-4 mm diameter. Gonna see what I can find on good old amazon and hopefully reconstruct this thing.

[Nessism]

Balls typically are imperial dimensions.

[Rijko]

Seems the spring and ball bearing need to be in the neighborhood of 3.5-4 mm diameter. Gonna see what I can find on good old amazon and hopefully reconstruct this thing.

Last time i needed a ball bearing for that i found a nice supply in the headset of an old bicycle :-)

[exzachtly1]

Last time i needed a ball bearing for that i found a nice supply in the headset of an old bicycle :-)

Haha, that's funny - as I was googling that size ball bearing, I was getting a lot of hits for bicycle parts. Must be a common size for that... maybe I should hit up a local bike shop.

Leaving this here in case anyone besides me might find it useful...

- Top is the spring that goes under the contact on the left and right of the turn signal switch block
- Middle is the spring from the BACK of the turn signal switch block
- Bottom is the block itself - to get the diameter and depth of the hole. I'm thinking a 10-12mm long spring will do the trick here, with a ball bearing around 3-3.5 mm diameter



I'm finding some promising stuff on amazon. Hoping I can put something together that works...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RRYCDGD/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A11JQY1907BP4E&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Z95B2Q2/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=A83BHZFQ3Y439&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B081SQZR62/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A1THAZDOWP300U&psc=1

3mm x 15mm springs
4mm x 15mm springs
3.5mm ball bearings

fingers crossed...

[exzachtly1]

And I'm thinking maybe, just mayyyybe I can fashion a copper contact for the other side of the switch with some careful bending of some bullet connectors I have laying around. Thinking I can flatten it out, do some careful bending and maybe get something going? But I'm still not sure if it is even supposed to be there

Edit -
Turns out a female bullet connector is pretty close to the right size with a little bending and cutting. We'll see if this works when I get my springs in the mail lol

[exzachtly1]

Got my springs and ball bearings today, and it was a great success. Used a 4 mm OD spring (3 mm inner diameter), cut to just a little longer than the depth of the hole. Used a 3.5 mm ball bearing on the end. This made the turn signal switch lock into place with just the right amount of resistance, and it clicks back and forth very nicely now. I was even able to use my makeshift copper contact for the other side of the switch, with the 3 mm springs I bought. Still don't know for sure if it's necessary but... it's not hurting anything!

Here's a link with all my photos if it's of help to anyone.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/jitMjn6QuVa5pWEKA

Two things I learned:
1. Digital calipers are one of the most valuable tools
2. Don't be dumb like me and work on this on a piece of newspaper. It's impossible to see tiny springs and ball bearings on patterned material lol. Do yourself a favor and use a plain white work surface.

Unfortunately it did not really improve anything with the horn but... it is cleaner now, and there was a spider web and a dead spider in there soooo, still good to clean it up I guess! I never want to take this apart again. I had so many close calls almost losing things, lots of swearing, and it took me way too long to figure out how the damn thing was actually supposed to be constructed. The photos from you guys in this thread were very helpful so thanks a million. Love this forum.