Models: ALL, Years: ALL

With summer approaching and warm weather already here, the circuit breakers on my Swiss 710K began popping again. Not only is this inconvenient, but possibly dangerous since one of the more troublesome of the breakers was in the brake light circuit.

Jürgen and I had been playing with the idea of removing the circuit breaker assembly and replacing it with a fuse panel. But then Jürgen found a source of marine circuit breakers that were relatively inexpensive (less than $5 each) sold as Seachoice SCD0014x.  I agreed to be the guinea pig again and I ordered a set of twelve breakers.  Please note that this project requires all twelve breakers to be replaced.  The marine circuit breakers used are not an exact replacement of the original Swiss breakers.  You can also get clear vinyl boots for the tops of the breakers.

Figure 1.  New breaker style show at top.

Not exactly enjoying the prospect of tearing into the dash panel, I armed myself with the proper tools:
                     3/16" straight blade screwdriver
                     1/4" straight blade screwdriver
                     small channel-lock pliers
                     wire stripper
                     terminal crimper pliers
                     wire markers
                     supply of red, blue, and yellow female push on connectors
                     5/16" or 3/8" shrink tubing or electrical tape
                     heat gun (if using shrink tubing)
                     small soldering pencil and solder (optional)
                     six pack of my favorite beverage (maybe it was two)
                     a BFH was not required

1. IMPORTANT -- turn off the battery disconnect and remove the key!

2. Remove controls from dash panel. Remove the knobs from the Eberspacher switch (if your truck is so equipped), the wiper control switch, and the heater/ventilation fan switch. Remove the knurled retainer nuts from these switches and carefully pull the switches down and away from the dash panel by reaching behind the panel. Remove the hex nut retainers from the light switch, ignition key switch, and the starter button and carefully pull the switches down and away from the dash panel. Remove the two screws that hold the indicator light panel and carefully disengage the light panel from the dash.  Remove the speedometer cable. Remove the six M5 screws that hold the breaker assembly.

3. Loosen the five (5) screws holding the dash to the cowl, then gently pry the dash panel up and away from the cowl. Swing the dash panel to the left to provide adequate clearance for working on the breakers.  Wire or tape the dash panel in place.

4. Note that the twelve original breakers are sandwiched between two sheets of rubber and retained by a metal bracket.  It appears to some sort of shock mounting.  Do not remove any wires or remove the old breakers from the "sandwich" yet !!! To gain a little more slack in the wires and working space, you can cut the tie-wraps around the wiring harness.

Figure 2.  Replacing the breakers.

5. Decide on the best method to replace the breakers. I started with #6 and worked my way up to #1, then #12 up to #7. Take one of the new breakers and number it (using a wire marker) according to the position it will occupy. Cut the wire(s) from one side of the old breaker as close to the ring lug as possible.  Be careful not to lose track of the wire(s). Strip the wire(s), solder if desired, then crimp on the new connector. Insulate the connector with a one inch section of shrink tube or electrical tape. Attach wire(s) to the new breaker. Now remove the remaining wire(s) from the old breaker and repeat the process. The old breaker can now be removed and set aside.  Repeat this process for all twelve (12) breakers. Work carefully and be sure to number each new breaker. When the last old breaker is removed, you can also remove the two rubber sheets and the metal bracket.

6. You now have twelve (12) new breakers hanging out of the dash opening - time to button everything up.  One at a time, insert the new breakers into the appropriate hole in the dash panel and secure with the plastic nut provided.  Note: these plastic nuts have a serrated edge (like a gear) and while tightening the nut it may cause an adjacent nut to loosen. File off the teeth if this is a problem.  The shafts of the new breakers is smaller than the holes in the dash panel so it is a pretty sloppy fit. You can fabricate a bushing from tubing if desired.

7. Replace the remaining dash components and reattach the speedometer cable.

8. Replace the battery key, turn it on, and pray that the smoke genie stays in the wires.

Figure 3.  Finished job.

What would I have done differently if I had to do this job again:

Fabricate a panel to mount the breakers and attached by the original six screws in the dash panel. (I may yet do this)

Provide connectors so that the entire dash panel could be removed easily.  Potentially another point of failure, but it sure would make it easier to access dash components.

Contributed by Jay Reich