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mwhitedg · 09-17-2019, 09:16 AM

My 2001 Newmar Mountain Aire, built on a 2000 Ford F53, has a bad cruise control switch in the steering wheel.

It was working on and off, mostly off. I tried popping the switch cover off to clean the switch contacts and broke the cover so it will not stay on.

The good news is the cruise control works every time now, but the button cover falls off when ever we hit a small bump.

Question, The price for the 2004 switch is 35 bucks, the price for the 2000 is over 150 bucks ... Any chance they are interchangeable?

Thanks

tderonne · 09-17-2019, 09:47 AM

They went from a slip ring to a clock spring for the wiring interface from the column to the wheel between 200 and 2004. I wonder if that drove some differences in the plugs the switches use? i.e. same switch different connector?

mwhitedg · 09-17-2019, 04:30 PM

That is what I was afraid of ... I dish out the cash this winter ...

mwhitedg · 09-18-2019, 07:04 AM

I did some more digging and it looks like the 2000 F53 uses a 1997 F-150 steering wheel. That makes finding a part much easier.

tderonne · 09-18-2019, 12:22 PM

I used some F150 parts when I hooked up the illumination in my buttons. I think my '04 wheel is the same as the '97 F150, in fact I have a leather F150 wheel in mine, just not 100% sure of the F150 application it came from.

I only recently noticed the different slip ring / clock spring setup used on the earlier F53's. Not sure if a slip ring was ever used in an F150 or not. All the F150 of F53 buttons of that general vintage, look just like mine though, including the wiring, when I do an image search. Do yours look different?

(I'm a junkyard kind of guy. When I wanted my switches to light up, I grabbed some parts at the junkyard to play with. You might have luck doing the same, especially if you have some decent junkyards around.)

Just found Waiter's page about his wheel:

F53 – Centering steering wheel on Ford F53 motorhome

His wheel and switches look just like my '04, at least from memory, which is pretty clear for me, I've had it apart a few times fixing my cruise. His pictures look like yours?