Neutral Switch & backup light switch?

[6T7Merc]

Ive switched my steering columns in my 67 merc and in the process have misplaced my neutral switch. i purchased a new one but for some reason that has boggled me, i cannot find the neutral switch connector, under the dash. I also connot find the reverse backlight switch connector under the dash either. Anyone lend some help?
Thanks.

[fordman]

in a automatic truck the reverse is with the neutral safety switch. so its all in the one square plug with four wires going to it. the wires are 2 red w blue stripes and 2 black with red stripes and one white with a black stripe. this is the one that came out of a 69 i am describing. 67 colors might be differeent. heres a pic of it.

[6T7Merc]

So ive taken a picture of where i think the neutral switch connects into but its got me even more confused. it has a female end connected into it and its just a circuit. it also looks factory and i know i never put it in so where would my switch have connected into the harness?

Does anyone maybe happen to also know the wiring sequence on the connector of the switch?

Also if anyone has any other pictures that would be great. the last one was a bit blurry..

[fordman]

ok your pic is correct. that is the harness plug for a manual. follow the wires going from that plug to the nuetral switch itself. unless someone has cut it out of the harness and rewired it. it looks like they have done something with all of that black tape. i will get a better pic in a few and post it.

[fordman]

here are pics of how it is suppose to hook up. from that connector you showed to the column neutral safety switch / back up lights.

[6T7Merc]

When you said that that connector was for the manual what did you mean by that? I have a C6 automatic transmission in my truck so i was a little confused.
Also the black tape on the harness was my doing to clean up the harness a little bit. I inspected the harness before that and there was no rewiring done to it before.
In the picuture that you posted, is the switch connected to the connector that i posted earlier?
Im just a little confused because i know i had one on the truck before but then there is that factory looking circuit connector on the end of what i think it my neutral switch connector so im confused as to where it was before that.

Thanks for your time. Its much appreciated since im in a pickle!

[fordman]

let me start over. the plug that is in the harness in your pic shoul dbe for a truck with no nuetral safety switch such as a truck that had a manual trnasmission or a newer dentside that had the nuetral safety on the transmission itself. in order to use a column mounted nuetral safefty switch you would unplug the connector that is circling back to it self and plug your nuetral safety switch into it. i am sorry i wasnt clearer the first two times i have been sick for the past three weeks or so. i am now getting a swollen glan under my jaw so that means its time for a earache next. oh how nice.

[4th effie n counting]

do you know if your tranny is original? I would assume that someone who knew what they were doing would loop that circuit if they put a later model tranny in there.(with the neutral safety residing on the trans)
or maybe you don't have one at all, will truck start in any gear?

[6T7Merc]

Thanks fordman! that clears up where my neutral switch would go but im still confused since my tranny is original and it automatic. I cant for the life of me find out where it was before. The reason im sure there was one is because the little metal finger that comes off the steering column has a rub mark on the side that it hits the switch. if anyone has any other ides that would be great.
Does anyone know if come came from factory without the switch?


Also, does anyone know the wiring colour sequence of the neutral switch going to its connector? the replacement i just purchased has the wrong connector so im going to attach the correct one but i dont know in what order they go.
thanks in advance!

[FORDification]

One of the biggest mistakes many vintage truck owners make is to assume that the equipment that's on their truck when they buy it is how it came from the factory....which couldn't be farther from the truth. I'm just saying that unless you personally bought it brand new off the showroom floor and have never turned it over to a mechanic for repairs, you cannot say without a doubt that what you have now is how it was when it was new.

That bypass circuit would've been installed on any manual-shift truck (3-spd or 4-spd). If your truck did indeed come from the factory with an automatic transmission, there should've been a NSS at the base of the steering column, and it would plug into the harness where that bypass circuit is. Due to the potential liability issues, there's no way an automatic-transmission truck would've come from the factory without a NSS, so it's been bypassed by someone else....or the underdash wiring harness has been replaced with one from a manual-transmission truck. It's always possible a previous owner bypassed the NSS when it went bad, though I'd have thought you'd have been aware of the truck having the ability to start up in any gear before now.

Anyway, it's a simple issue. Bolt down the NSS to your new column and plug it into the harness by removing that bypass circuit. You say you have a new NSS but it's got the wrong end....are you sure it's for this generation of Ford truck? Where did you get it and what was the part number? Can you post a pic of it?

[fordman]

the colors are in pairs. they have two of each color.the wires act as a passthrough circut. if thats what its called. the two wires that are the same color sit on top of each other on the original switch. the two red with stripe go to the passenger side of the switch the two black with red go to the drivers side of the switch.

[basketcase0302]

Wow!

or the underdash wiring harness has been replaced with one from a manual-transmission truck.

Did Ford have a chebby engineer working for them at that time!

Never knew the underdash harnesses were different on our trucks depending on what tranny was installed too, good stuff!
So a "simple" manual to automatic tranny swap will be lacking the NSS unless one is "butchered" into it?

Jeff

[FORDification]

...
So a "simple" manual to automatic tranny swap will be lacking the NSS unless one is "butchered" into it?

Jeff

Oh no no....the harness is wired for either. I was just tossing that out as a VERY remote possibility that since 67Merc' hadn't plugged that bypass circuit in, that maybe a repair shop replaced the harness from a manual-shift truck, and they never unplugged that bypass circuit to plug the NSS in there.

[Thunderfoot]

67Merc'
The "Red-Blue striped" wires are for the Neutral Safety (wont allow the engine to start unless in Park or Neutral) and the "Black-Red striped" wires are for the Reverse lights.

Also check your data plate on the door to see what your truck was built with from the factory.
Here is the info to decode it that Keith has on the website. http://www.fordification.com/data-1967.htm