The saga continues on the tilt steering column swap for my 91 XJ. Just got it back in, went to connect the highbeam/dimmer plug on the column, annnnnnnd doesn't fit. Compared old columns switch with new one: rebuilder installed a white High beam switch with three blades (in a triangle) compared to my older brown style with four spades (three in a triangle and one at the bottom).

What's up here? Can I swap these easily? I really don't want to remove the column again...

 

For reference:


(Old column)



(New column)

 

For those following and future searchers, I did some multimeter testing. Looks like the forwardmost terminals (in a triangle pattern) share the same functionality between the two switches. The front terminal is likely 12v power when the lights are on, and that terminal connects to one or the other (side by side) depending on whether the high beams are on.

The tricky part was that extra fourth terminal on my old switch. I thought maybe it was the wire for the high beam light in the dash and shared the power of the high beam terminal. This wasnt true, as neither side-by-side terminal had continuity with this extra terminal. Further examination found that the fourth terminal has a band of metal that runs to the front of the switch, where two little ends will touch when the switch is just pressed in partway. That's when I realized this extra pin is for flashing your lights: you pull back on the turn signal stalk partway and it makes the high beams flash.

I will see if bridging the terminals in my rigs connector to the new switch yields proper functionality and report back. I will also see if the new switch is perhaps an updated design without the need of the fourth terminal.