Headlight switch problems...

Last night (wednesday night) my headlight switch randomly broke on me...i pulled it out and turned on the corner lights but then when i tried pulling it out to turn on the headlights and taillights it didnt move so i pulled a little harder making the rod with the little knob on it come out. Needless to say i was a little upset about this. So i went to autozone and picked up a new headlight switch thinking this would be a simple 15 minute project. I get the jeep to my friends house and start dissasembling the dash i get the guage cluster out and the little piece next to the headlight switch that has the defroster switch on it and i notice there is no way to get the panel that is in front of the headlight switch out so i start taking off other random pieces hoping that one of them will lead to me finally being able to get to the switch...after about a half hour or so of this i got frustrated and decided to give up...putting it all back together. I dont know if i was just missing something or because it was 1am (thursday morning) trying to do this but I am really stuck and i need to fix this thing asap seeing as how my job relys on it...Can anyone help me out here? like how in the hell do i get the old switch out? ANY help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

What year? Pick up a manual, very easy. Get under the dash with a light you'll see. Turn headlights on, push in button, pull out knob, pull off connector, remove screw, repeat.

its a 95...do i have to take off a lot of the dash? cause thats basically what i was tryin to do last night

95j33pXJ said:

its a 95...do i have to take off a lot of the dash? cause thats basically what i was tryin to do last night

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No, just un-screw the switch from the front and pull it down.
Look at the new one, the button on the top releases the knob and shaft.

this might be a stupid question but what exactly do u mean by unscrewing the switch from the front and how do i pull it down from behing the dash so i can get the new one in?... thanks

After you remove the knob, the chrome piece will unscrew, you shouls see a slot in it. Like this -0-

ahhh yes i see i unscrewed the little piece out frontand its just hangin inside the dash
do i need to remove the bottom part to get it to come out and yes i see the button that lets the rod go in and out it is already out of the old one

95j33pXJ said:

ahhh yes i see i unscrewed the little piece out frontand its just hangin inside the dash
do i need to remove the bottom part to get it to come out and yes i see the button that lets the rod go in and out it is already out of the old one

Click to expand...

That depends on how flexable you are, it is easer with it removed.

okay i gotta get to work but i'll give it a shot at work...I'll let u know what the results are...thanks alot for the help!

Just a note -- it's easy to forget to plug in the separate ground wire when reinstalling the switch, without which you will have no dash lights.

I managed to fix it during work today...was a lot easier then i thought when i just unscewed that one thing...lol, of course! I appreciate all the help and tahnks for that note on conecting the seperate ground wire cuz i definetly woulda forgot if you didnt remind me...thanks again!