Hello! I'm new to the 'Airheads' group after buying my first airhead, a 1978 R80/7. The more I spend time cleaning it up the more I realize what a wunderfully designed and built machine it is.

One of a few issues it has is an intermittent engine on/off thumb switch. When I bought it worked but needed a little fiddling by pushing inward to get the contact to be made. Well, curiosity just got the best of me and killed it. When I unscrewed the switch unit  from the bar control unit to see if I could improve it's function by addressing the electrical contacts, one thing let to another and I (now regrettably) took the small cir-clip off the back end of the red on/off thumb switch ( https://flic.kr/p/2nHVucp and https://flic.kr/p/2nJ2TEX) and upon pushing on the shaft to see if I could gain access to the innards a small detent ball was dislodged, but thankfully NOT LOST (yet)!!. Further wiggling revealed a small spring that I'm assuming puts pressure on the ball for positive stops of the switch.

The entire engine on/off, engine start, and turn blinker switch unit doesn't seem to be designed to be removed due to the tab on the turn blinker thumb switch. If I cut the tab off I then wunder if I can get the ball and spring situated to reassemble the unit, sans the [amputaded] extended turn signal tab.

Aside from "you should've left it alone", anyone have any constructive advice for a suitable? Seems the [pricey] complete Hella switch units (#2 here) are no longer available 🙁 and I don't want to resort to adding a dedicated switch to the bar.

Cheers.