Have repair piece for fan switch lever- does the assembly have to come apart to take the broken one out and put the new one in?

I use some very stiff wire that I picked up from the hardware store. I comes in 3 ft lengths. I bent a piece at a 90 degree angle and feed it in behind each knob to release the tension on the lever. The knob slid right off. You need to make sure that the wire gauge is not too big. I do not recall the gauge I used because it has been a year ago.

Thanks