Both the hi/lo beam left side and headlight on/off right side handlebar switches on my K75 are quite stiff to operate and feel like you are going to break something when you push them.

As I would dearly love to avoid actually taking them apart (I'm sure there would be little springs and balls everywhere) has anyone found an easy way to lube them to return a nice smooth operation. I have had the switch blocks off the bars and flushed a heap of dirt out of them with pressure pack contact cleaner (did that cause the problem).

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

The best way I have found was from a post on the K11OG site. The little round detents have trouble getting past the edge they are supposed to ride over and either make them lock or auto return. The end of the detent needs a small lead in and it can be done with a small round file ( I used a saw chain sharpening file and took the smooth end of it so as to be able to do it. You need to be Very Very careful not to take too much out and then it will flop around. 3 or 4 rubs with the file was all it took. If you can wait till I see you at Nindigully I can show you.
I bought 2 new switches before I found out about this but tried it on one of the old ones and it works a treat but you will need to pull it apart a bit (not all the way) to do it

I had problems with stiffness and sluggishness for a couple years now, then lubed and restored my switches by dousing in Deoxit and let them drip dry for a few days. They work like new now.   

Consider giving that a try as a last ditch effort before resorting to disassembly.

Remove from clutch perch.  Use a good screwdriver and a bit of pressure as the threads may have corrosion if that screw at the middle bottom hasn't been touched since it left the factory. You don't want to strip the head of the Phillips screw.

Take the back off (three screws) ans spray the switch from the back on both sides with some silicone lubricant. (Silicone spray lubricant is a good general purpose lubricant because it doesn't attract dust like WD-40 and some others.)

If that doesn't work then you can take it apart further and push the HL switch pivot pin out and take things apart to lube further them but your assumption that there are little springs and other little parts to go flying is correct so I would do that on the workbench, not in the garage.

Ultimately you are going to have to pull the switches apart and do a decent job of lubing/cleaning them.

The are a couple of step-by-step photo guides around.

Thanks all for the input. I don't mind having to take them apart if all else fails - just like to try the easy route first.

When I take things like that apart my approach is to get a clear plastic bag about A4 size (US Letter) and put the switch in there to work on dismantling it. The bag may need to be big enough to get your hands in - that way when the inevitable springs and balls fly out they are captive.

Slightly off topic but still a switch - when I got this bike the ABS rocker switch on the dash pad did not seem to be working. On pulling off the top rocker piece I found that there was no spring inside to make it a momentary type mechanism. Once I had cleaned out corrosion and crap with much spraying of contact cleaner followed by deoxit on the sliding contact piece I added a spring out of a ball point pen. It needed a couple of assemble /disassemble operations to get a slight amount of stretch into the spring but works fine now. The hint to use the pen spring was given to me by a fellow electrician who had need to repair small switch mechanisms (not bikes).

Cheers

There IS a spring in the ABS switch that does make it a momentary switch. In a clean, properly working switch there is no need to add another spring.

Thanks Duck,

Yes I realise that there is supposed to be a spring in the ABS switch but the one on mine had obviously been played with at some point in it's life as there was no spring in it at all when I opened it up (it is probably hiding in some dark corner of a previous owner's garage). I didn't try to put in an extra spring but used the pen spring to get it going easily.

Cheers