Caution: Before working on a chandelier, be sure to turn off the power to its circuit.
Unscrew the nut or the set screw holding the canopy of the old chandelier. Lower the canopy. Your installation may have a steel bracket instead of a hickey, but the procedure is similar. Disconnect the wires, unscrew the hickey or bracket from the ceiling box stud, and lower the old fixture.
Construct a sturdy wire hook from a twisted coat hanger. Use this to support the new fixture while you rewire: attach one hook end to the ceiling box, the other to the new fixture, and the new hickey to the ceiling box stud. Connect the chandelier to the hickey.
Run the chandelier wires through the hickey and attach them to the ceiling wires (black to black, white to white) with wire connectors. If there is a third wire, attach it to the box or to the line ground wire. Raise the canopy and secure it with the setscrew or nut. To mount a chandelier where none existed, see Ceiling boxes. Rewiring a chandelier Turn off the power to the circuit. Unfasten the arms from the center stem unit of a disconnected chandelier. Remove old wiring. Thread new lamp cord through the stem and weave it into the chandelier’s chain.
Rewire the socket arms with 16gauge stranded wire, attaching a wire to each socket terminal. Take one wire from each socket arm and twist them together with a wire from the lamp cord at the chandelier’s base; secure with a wire connector. Repeat this step with the remaining socket wires and the other lamp cord wire.