Hot Rods Brake light pressure switch

I have always been under the impression that the pressure switch was a pretty simple and a rugged piece but for the second time in as many years I have lost my brake lights.

When we left home for Knoxville, Tennessee last Thursday I had brake lights and when we left the show on Saturday night Dave followed me back to the motel and the brake lights were working.

Sunday when we left the show we stopped for gas before getting on I-40 and Dave said I had no brake lights so he stayed behind me as much as possible on our way back to South Carolina.

Anyone else having a problem with this type of switch? HRP

 

Harley Davidson switches are popular and supposedly last longer and require less pressure to activate the lights. I'm using a generic low pressure one and it is working fine. I've got the info on the switch at home. I'll post it when I get back

 

Go to your nearest Harley dealer and buy one.... The parts house switches have turned to crap...

 

I have a VW switch that has lasted 48 years

 

I replaced it (them) about 4 times in the 12/15 years I drove my 48 with one down on the frame behind the master cylinder. That only because I had replaced the section of floorboard that the original switch fastened to when I was running the subframe and firewall mounted booster.

Back when I was working in garages It seemed that I replaced a lot more of those brake light switches on Fords when they were mounted up on the master cylinder than I did all other brake switches combined though. They are super simple, they work but you most likely will have to replace one every so often.

 

The first one (Speedway) in my car lasted 2 yrs. I bought a replacement and 1 spare, listed as an early Jeep application. Been ok for 6 yrs.

 

Have had a few fail over the years-on last few 40's I used the mechanical type with the arm mounted under floorboard-think they were used on early Chevy pickups.

 

That's what I use as well......no issues.

 

Speedway has two different switches like this, one el-cheap-o and the other is like $35 or something. I'm an el-cheap-o type of guy so I bought the cheap one, lasted about two months. Called speedway and bitched, they applied the price of the cheap one to the better one and did not charge shipping. So I made out alright. And was lucky no one ran into me with no brake lights! New one has lasted for years.... now I have to go home and check.

 

One failure in the 8 years I've had the car. Which are the lowest pressure. VW or Harley Davidson?

 

What olscrounger said on all of mine.

 

the past few years, they suck.

 

I quit using the pressure switches for that very reason ,started using the mechanical ones and never replaced those

 

The "Good" Napa Echlin switch = ECH SL134 is 11.99 here locally and their cheap one is 7.99
https://www.napaonline.com/en/searc...ch&scene=partTypesScene0&fullyQualified=false
For the life of me I still don't see why guys think they have to go to frigging Speedway for simple items and pay shipping when they can buy decent quality close to home.

 

Had 3 go out on our 57 in maybe 2 years .i was too lazy to fit a mechanical SW . So wired the new again pressure sw through a relay , lasted 5yrs till we sold it and as far as I know still working great. Obviously these switches are cheapest and not designed for brake fluid or/and pressure .
We do have problems from time to time in our 32 with a sliding mechanical sw that it think gets corrosion/dirt on the exposed slider.

 

I started using mechanical switches on all of my cars also. I tried paying the premium for the Ron Francis dot 5 switches and they still failed. I had one chevy style mechanical switch fail but it was after 15 years. Replaced with the same thing last year all good again.

 

Got rid of mine years ago when I was almost at a complete stop before it would come on. Changed to a Chevette one connected to brake pedal. Been twenty years and no problems.

 

Hotrodprimer you must be new to the HAMB. Haven't you seen the million other switch threads? Read all of them, and the consensus is to use the mechanical one. I do.

 

I used a Ron Francis Wiring kit in my car. Bought their brake pressure switch which they claim is much better and requires less pressure. At about $32 it’s maybe three times more expensive but hasn’t give me any trouble in ten years.

 

Haven't used a hydraulic pressure switch in the last 30 or 40 years. Prefer mechanical lever or push/pull pin type.

 

When my grandson was home from Florida we fooled around with the '65 F-100 I gave him, it has been sitting in the barn for more than 20 years and we were able to get it started, the lights work and the brake lights worked also.

I have owned this truck since 1972 and have never replaced the brake light switch, I looked at it after lunch and it's marked Ford., I guess they were just better made at that time. HRP

 

Yeah, I can't count the number of threads I have seen over the years

 

Yeah, I'm a newbie and to be perfectly honest I really haven't payed any attention to the brake switch threads. outta sight,outta mind. HRP

Another thread that has been posted numerous times and like everything else will be posted many times in the future. HRP

 

Like the post above I had a button on the pedals. When I took the pedals out and had to use a pressure switch.

 

I've had a few go bad over the years, OK, quite a few. I buy Blue Streak (Standard Motor Products) switches and they seem to last 4 or 5 years.

When I rewired my '50 Ford this past winter I knew the brake lights were working and I thought good, an old switch made back when they knew how to make them. Damn switch didn't last a week after I started driving the car. It's got a new Blue streak switch in it now.

One thing I do is to put a pinpoint LED somewhere on the dash so I know if the brake light switch has gone south. They are troublesome and I want to know that the brake lights are working.

 

Looks like the Harley-Davidson brake light switch uses the spade connectors. HRP

 

So did the VW’s I looked at.

 

Here you go, Danny. It is a problem and ECI Hot Rod Brakes has addressed it.

http://www.ecihotrodbrakes.com/inline_brake_light_switch.html