So I got the switch removed and took it to the locksmith to have the
break-off bolts removed. I left it on Thursday, where the old guy working
there told me they might not get to it until Monday, and it would be $15.
No problem. I happened to stop by on Saturday and met his son, who went
into a long, dramatic, tragic monolog about how difficult, time consuming,
and skill-testing, said it would be $30. At the beginning of this horror
story, I told a little white lie, saying I had a friend with a machine shop
who would hook me up. I figured he'd quit whining, hand me the switch, and
we could all live happily ever after. He didn't.
I picked it up today. Turns out all he did was use a cut-off tool to turn
the bald bolts into flathead screws. In doing this, he also damaged the
external housing, although that was pretty minor and not worth worrying
about. He bragged, at length, about his brilliant solution that saved a lot
of time and effort.
I thought he was clever, with the lock at least. He was not so clever when
he went ahead and charged me $30 anyway. I paid it, because I agreed to,
but that placed him on my shit-list of locksmiths (there are now three) with
whom I will never do business with again.
I do so wish I could find a good locksmith around here. If he had cut his
price to reflect the profound lack of effort and time he claimed it
required, he would have been a hero in my book, even if I had to listen to
his tedious drama. Now he's just a dick. A dick with drama.
I got the switch home, disassembled it, cleaned it, and found the problem.
The switch was built with substandard parts, piss poor quality control, and
overly complicated. The plastic contact backing plate was cracked, and the
plastic rotor that holds the moving contacts was missing a chunk of plastic
that held one of the contacts, allowing it to bounce around. It's obvious
this chunk didn't fall off or break. This was a defective part that was
happily installed at the factory without a second thought.
The only reason it worked this long was its design, which, while
unnecessarily complex, was very sturdy and well thought out, from mechanical
perspective.
It was overly complicated electrically because there were two separate sets
of contacts for one circuit. Seems they needed more copper real estate for
the 30 amps it's supposed to carry, and didn't want to do anything crazy
like, uh, make bigger contacts.
I also verified which contact closes which circuit. There are four wires,
one main circuit that carried everything except the starter motor current,
and the other, separate circuit, that probably does something so profound
that a mere relay can't be trusted with such a wonderful task, but has no
direct contact with the other circuit inside the switch.
This goes a long way in explaining why so many 1997 Royal Stars had ignition
switch problems, and why they've redesigned the replacement parts twice.
Most importantly, the dadgum schematic in the Clymer manual is WRONG!
It shows all four wires share a common contact. If the diagram was trusted
to do any significant wiring with these circuits, a blown fuse is certain,
and fried wiring/control boxes likely.
Which is why I waiting until I could disassemble the switch before making
Plan B.
Plan A, of course, is fix the switch, which I did. I cleaned the contacts,
stretched out the springs, tweaked a couple contacts, and tested everything
with a multimeter.
It works very well now, and is unlikely to fail right away.
It may fail in not a terribly long time, however, hence Plan B.
Plan B will consist of high current relays, and aftermarket switch, and a
soldering iron.
I'm ordering a couple 75 amp relays from Ebay, and I'll look around for a
switch that suits my fancy. If/when this switch fails again, I'll simply
rewire the circuits into the relays, wire the relays into the new switch,
and rock on.
Meanwhile, when I reinstall the switch, I will make darn sure the connectors
are easily reachable without tearing off the radiator, fuel tank, and
various chunks of bike, just in case I have to hot-wire it to get home.
I'll make some 8ga jumpers, throw them, and the required tools, in a
saddlebag, and all will be right in the world.
CS
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