Neutral Safety Switch, 1 or 3 prong?

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POPS6T6

POPS6T6

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So after doing some research I have learned more than I ever expected about the switches and the "rooster-comb" lever...but I am still wondering what switch I should use. I have a 1966 Barracuda, putting the 360 and 727 in hopefully this weekend (finally). On the transmission it has a single prong switch, but after looking up the #'s on the case PK4329468 8536 8671 I figured that this should be an 84-85 transmission (someone please correct me if I am wrong) and from what I learned the 69 and newer transmissions use the 3 pin neutral safety and back up light switch. What is odd is that there is a single pin switch in this transmission? Now it was rebuilt and so I am wondering if someone just put the wrong switch in it? Based on those #'s, shouldn't I be using a 3 prong switch so that I will have backup lights? Also since the car is a 66, would it have the correct plug or would I need to change it out and rewire it for backup lights?

Thanks,
John
 

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The car has a reverse lamp switch mounted on the shifter inside the cabin which ever location. If that switch is still working there's no real reason to move that wiring out and down to the trans mounted switch.
If the original switch inside is out of order, simply route those 2 additional wires out the firewall and down to the 3 prong switch.
 
Thanks Red.. Assuming that since I am going to replace the switch (while the trans is still out) that I should go ahead with a 3 prong switch then?
 
I would use whatever switch is correct for the trans or rooster comb that is in it.
 
Even a better idea...guess the comb would determine the switch...sometimes someone has to just state the obvious for me.. Thanks again..
 
POPS6T6 said:
Even a better idea...guess the comb would determine the switch...sometimes someone has to just state the obvious for me.. Thanks again..
Click to expand...
That's where I was headed. I thought the comb determined the switch. I don't know how to identify either style, and also thought the comb was part of the valve body. The transmissions I've had built, I just made sure I told the builder the style of switch I needed depending on the year of the car.
 
The comb does determine which switch you use but here's the catch. Since it's rebuilt and has this single prong switch in it I wonder if someone possibly swapped out the manual lever assy., or even possibly the entire valve body for the older style, thus requiring the use of the single prong switch?? You never know what happens with stuff that's 40+ yrs. old.

What I'd do is hook up a ohm meter to the switch and cycle the shift lever and see if

1. the ohm meter shows zero ohms (or very close to zero, a good meter will measure the minute resistance in the test leads) in park and in neutral and

2. does the shift lever operate freely, or does it bind up.

If it binds up that tells me the trans has the newer style rooster comb that requires the newer switch. If it shifts freely with no binding and grounds in the park and neutral positions I'd run it
 
There is not a manual valve body, and it does not bind up. It moves freely. I have not put a meter on it yet, as it is not in the car and not hooked up to anything..
 

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I took out my 1 switch from the old tranny (66) and replaced the 3 switch in the newer tranny (not sure of the year, think 69) with the 1 switch and have no problems shifting, no binds. Car never had reverse lights since I've had it but everything worked fine. Have a manual valve body now still no issues.
 
I will have to remove the pan again and try to get a look at the rooster comb. Spent the entire weekend or rather wasted the entire weekend trying to install SuperComp headers by myself...Will take the pan off tonight and post a pic of the comb if I can get a good one of it..

Thanks for all the input so far!
 
I'd use whatever the car came with, no use running wires if you don't need to.

Good info fishy68, I'm just not that technical, yet.
 
So I popped the pan and the first pic is what I can see. To me it looks like the 3 terminal switch?
 

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And this is what I found in regards to the other rooster combs and switches..
 

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Got a one post NSS switch on a 71 Duster, the 904 has had TA Cheetah reverse manual valve body and now uses a Tranzact Transbrake.....and all is good.

dont need back up lites....
 
I wouldn't mind not having them, just want to make sure the one prong would still work as a neutral safety switch with that rooster comb..
 
That's a newer style rooster comb. I haven't tried using a 1 prong switch with one so I'm not sure if it'll work or not. You mentioned it doesn't bind up so that's a plus. You don't need to have the transmission installed in the car to test the switch with an ohm meter. You simply set the meter on the lowest ohm's scale, hook up one wire to the trans case and the other to the switch then cycle the shift lever through the gears. Park and neutral should show 0 ohms. All other gears should show an open circuit
 
Well I tried to test it, and going to try to explain the best I can what I did. Please refer to the attached pic. I put a test lead on green arrow and yellow arrow (gear control lever) and i got a reading, then tested from green to white (where switch meets housing) and got a reading, green to blue NOTHING. I then changed location of the gear selector lever (yellow arrow) and still got nothing through all the positions. I put the test lead on yellow and white, got a reading, yellow and blue NOTHING even when changing location of gear selector. As usual, the more I do, the more questions I have. First of all, I am wondering if my switch is bad? 2ndly, I wonder if I should buy a 1 prong or 3 prong. Based on the rooster comb I have, it would normally be a 3 prong, but since this is going to a 66 Barracuda, I don't think it is wired for a 3 prong, so my main question of "would a 1 prong work with a 3 prong rooster comb? Also, when changing the gear control lever (yellow) from left to right in the pic, how many clicks should it have? I was under the impression (although I have thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken) that it would be 6 clicks? 1 each for park, neutral, reverse, 1,2,3 right? I swear I counted 7, does that mean maybe there is an overdrive (just an uneducated guess) or what would that mean if it means anything at all? This is way out of my paygrade!
 

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i had a similar problem with an amc eagle ( chrysler trans used in amc), i changed switch, no contnuity to case in any position , found switch was not being depressed enough from selector,should be ball at end of switch thats pushed in from selector(rooster comb) lever would pass over and touch but not depress enough, bent lever to hit center of ball,and screwed switch in deeper all was good, you can test switch out of trans by checking continuity between pins when you depress switch ,hope this helps ,spent a few nights in cold, under car fixing that one , if its three pins one is for reverse wire, one pin is common,and last pin is start,last pin should read continuity to case,or common pin when in park or nuetral,
 
Well ****, per the trans identification #'s PK4329468 8536 8671 I figured that this should be an 84-85 transmission and when I looked for a switch they changed between 84 & 85 from single pin to 3 pin and also from long to short. Based on the rooster comb I am going to get the short 3 prong and just replace it with a new one since it hasn't been installed yet and figured why not?

Make sense??
 

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John it's OK no panic. From your trans I.D. stamping & going from the Chrysler 10,000 day calender, your trans was built on December 9 1984.
On the 3 pin NSS the center contact ist the one for the starter circuit. The outer 2 are for switching the back-up lights. The cable from the center contact goes up to the starter relay & will allow the relay to operate only in P & N.
The contacts for the Back-up lights don't need to be connected in your '66 because the back-up light switch is either on the steering column (if column shift) or in the console on a floor shift car. I would imagine you have only 1 wire going to your NSS so just connect it to the center pin.

I hope this picture helps.



Cheers. Gaz
 
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