How To: Deluxe Heater Control Lever Replacement

[WTX-65LWB]

Hello All!

Thought I would put together a quick tutorial on replacing the levers and cables on a Deluxe Heater Control unit. Pretty simple job that can be accomplished in about an hour once the control unit is out the truck. Hope this helps!

The problem - broken soft pewter control levers in the deluxe heater control unit




The solution - replacement steel levers from Old Air and new control cables (I purchased both through LMC).




Step 1 - Remove the old cables by removing the 1/4" fasteners and retaining clips.


Note - One cable connects to the front half of the lever near the control face. It is kind of pain to get to.


Step 2 - Remove the Defrost Hose Bracket to gain easy access to lever fulcrum pin.


Step 3 - Remove the lower bracket and blower switch (the switch connects into a groove in the middle lever).


Switch Removed


Pay attention to the bushing - the Old Air kit comes with a new one but don't lose it if yours does not.


Step 4 - Remove any remaining knobs (may have to brake them to remove them).


Levers ready to be removed - notice the distortion in the soft metal.


Step 5 - Drift out the fulcrum pin (a few taps on the pin is all it takes)


Components removed.


Control Unit stripped down and ready for reassembly.

[WTX-65LWB]

Part 2 - Going Back Together

Here are the parts in the kit from Old Air. It is complete and the levers are much more rigid than the original ones.


Step 6 - Assemble the lever arms and spacers. The provided instructions are good and provide adequate detail.








Step 7 - Install the new knobs (mine fit tightly on the new levers)


Step 8 - Install new cables and reinstall blower switch and brackets . The new cables are much smoother but the cable end clamps suppled were inadequate. They did not match up well with the channels in the control unit. I ended up reusing the cable ends from the original cables on the truck. Also - the cable attachment on the front half of one of the levers is a pain!


Complete and ready for reinstallation. A simple, easy improvement to get the heat working properly!

[Captainfab]

Thanks for taking the time to put together this nice write up

[bj383ss]

Nice writeup. I will be using this when I rebuild mine later this year.
Bret

[WTX-65LWB]

Thanks for the kind words CaptainFab!

bj383ss - Hopefully it will be a help to you. I looked for similar information before I did mine but didn't find anything so I thought it might be useful.

[chevyrestoguy]

Outstanding write-up! I like the pictures and the attention to detail. This really needs to be included in Woogeroo's How-To thread. Maybe you could shoot him a PM? I think that he would be glad to include it. If you haven't checked out that thread, you need to check it out. It's awesome!

[chevy_mike]

Outstanding tutorial. I will be referencing this when I rebuild mine.

Since this was very good, I have added it to the FAQ for the 60-66 area. Thanks!!!

[WTX-65LWB]

Originally Posted by chevyrestoguy

Outstanding write-up! I like the pictures and the attention to detail. This really needs to be included in Woogeroo's How-To thread. Maybe you could shoot him a PM? I think that he would be glad to include it. If you haven't checked out that thread, you need to check it out. It's awesome!

Thanks chevyrestoguy! I appreciate the kind words! I will shoot Woogeroo a PM.

Originally Posted by chevy_mike

Outstanding tutorial. I will be referencing this when I rebuild mine.

Since this was very good, I have added it to the FAQ for the 60-66 area. Thanks!!!

Thanks chevy_mike! I have taken more than my fair share of info from this site so it is nice to contribute a little!

[jeromio]

How does this control mount on the bottom? I retrofitted to my non-deluxe 66 and it's just flopping around when I adjust the controls. The top screws were easy enough, but I can't figure out how it's supposed to get fixed at the bottom? I'm probably missing some parts?

[earl84]

Originally Posted by jeromio

How does this control mount on the bottom? I retrofitted to my non-deluxe 66 and it's just flopping around when I adjust the controls. The top screws were easy enough, but I can't figure out how it's supposed to get fixed at the bottom? I'm probably missing some parts?

On about the 8th picture from the top, you can see a bracket the has two screws that mount it to the control assembly. The other side of that bracket mounts to the lower dash panel.