http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...-How-to-re-assemble-pre-2001-C-Maglite-switch
Here's a thread I used today to solve a flickering when twisting the head of a 2C dilema. Post 5 still has pix and post 8 has a great description.
I removed the swich assembly and "boy-yoy-yoy-yoyng" parts went a flying as the assembly self destructed...
Hope it helps somebody else too.
Basically during the removal of the switch a bir on the opposite side of the switch dug a groove in the body as the assembly was being popped out.
(I later learned this evening that it's the 5/64th's or Torx set screw that I had not loosened. Doh!)
That screwed up the threads the retaining ring needs later. I took a small precision screwdriver and scraped the high spots off the threads. Then without the switch installed yet screwed the retaining ring in and out several times to get the threads normal again.
To aid I used a silicone grease as a lube (and alkaleak bond preventer later) then a pair of poultry shears acted as a "bung" of sorts.
(footnote: a bung is a round wedge used to plug leaks in boats or old wooden keg filler hole plugs) By using a bung it added grip to the inside of the retaining ring when grip was needed to get past bad spots in the threads. After tightening/loosening several times the threads were like new and once the switch assembly was installed the ring screwed down easily. Oh and I dremel'd off that little bir on the rear of the assembly. (The retainer screw 'spike')
I used a couple of dabs of E6000 glue to hold the halves of the assembly together after reassembling the switch assembly. A temporary adhesive that will prevent parts-a-flying in the event the assembly has to be removed and repaired again.
The wife has a friend who heard I'm a flashlight nut and she owns 2 Mags that wouldn't light. It turns out they both needed bulbs. I stuck a modern bi-pin 3 cell in her 3D and a nice WhiteStar in the 2C. An elderly lady whose husband recently passed and he kept those old lights from the 90's looking and working like new. So when the 2C flickered or turned off when changing beam shape I had to solve that... just had to.
Turns out the contact strip between the switch and bulb fastener was dirty in spots and when the bulb assembly moved up or down contact was broken. (Mag reccomended buying a new asssembly or send the light to them so the lady asked my wife if I'd fix it.)
I donated a new poly ultraclear lens, a button cover and gave it a good cleaning/lube. The wife was instructed to tell the lady I owe her $10 for letting me disect her flashlight in my lab all afternoon.... and it was fun learning how disassemble/reassemble a 2C Maglite as that was the first time I had worked on their switch assembly. What took hours will take minutes next time...
Here's another basic how to thread. How to disassemble a Maglite D cell.
https://www.takeitapart.com/guide/50
This helped me get a stuck battery out tonight and get my 80's 2D going.
Shown glowing with the formerly stuck Enercell
A few good whacks to a 3/8" x 8" long ratchet extension with a deep well (6pt) 19mm socket to the battery that was in upside down ⊙▁⊙ got that sucker out quickly.
I soaked the barrel in warm water a few minutes and scraped off high spots of alkaleak gel from the wall. Then a paste of Bar Keepers Friend (an ajax type powder that is a mild acid I use to get baked on brake dust off alluminum wheels) was rubbed on in circular motions with a toothbrush clamped to vice grips and the walls were soon smooth as new (minus the anodizing at those areas.
I placed silicone grease on the retainer screw and the set screw as bond inhibitors just in case. (Learned that from bicycle seat posts and pedals.) Then I dremel'd a slight groove on the inside of the retainer ring so it would easily pass over that brass screw on the sliding bulb fastener.
I considered re-hab-ing the switch assembly but decided not to... not tonight anyway. Then I used my handy-dandy home made spanner wrench via two precision screwdrivers clamped to a needle nose vise grip at the proper spacing.
Later I will cut about 1/3 of a coil off of the spring so it won't be so dam hard to put the tailcap back on. Maybe 2/3 total...
Some ano is gone on the outside thanks to alkaleak-age but that was a boon. It spilled onto the outside instead of crawling all over the inside. None had reached the between the switch assembly housing and the inside wall of the barrel. That was a stroke of luck there.
Note: My switch assembly csme out of the bulb end of the light.
