VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Tech Talk Either it does or it dosen't.

There you are sitting in your 1933 Eagle in line for the required Field Check before you can enter the judging field. You are going over the checklist in your head when you remember that the last time you attempted to blow the horn at the kids by the side of the road, it didn’t work. Panic, quickly remove the horn button, carefully squeeze the two prongs together and reinstall. Okay, so it didn’t work. Brace yourself for the mandatory 02-point deduction for class judging and an inoperative check mark if for HPOCF.

Now that you are back in the shop it’s time to fix it. First we must understand how the horn system works. One side of the horn is connected directly to the battery. The other terminal goes to a plug-in connection at the base of the steering column. From this connection the circuit goes to the steering column bushing. This bushing has a contact ring on the top which is connected to a wire that follows the steering column mast section to the bottom where it exit’s a hole in the column and is connected to the plug-in.



This is what the bushing and contact wire looks like.


To complete the circuit and make the horn operate the horn button, with two ”˜rods’, is pressed down until the ”˜rods’ touch the contact ring on the bushing. These two rods must contact some metal object that makes the return path back to the battery. Normally this metal object is the hub of the steering wheel.

To isolate our problem, it is necessary to disconnect the plug-in at the base of the steering column. By use of a short jumper wire complete the circuit to the nearest ground. If the horn does NOT operate the problem is with either the horn or the wiring harness. For this discussion we assume the horn DOES operate and therefore the problem is in the mast jacket.

To disassemble the mast, the steering wheel must be removed. To prevent damage to the wheel, since you probably don’t have the correct puller, enlist the help of a friend. Loosen the retaining nut, but do not remove. Use a blunted punch placed in the indention of the steering shaft. With a large hammer strike the punch as you and the friend pull up on the steering wheel. You will be surprised how well this trick works. Now remove the ½ moon key. Under the hood loosen and remove the clamp bolt, under the dash remove the nuts and washers on the u-bolt that holds the steering column to the dash. The jacket should be loose enough at this point to pull up through the floorboards and remove. Careful that you don’t punch a hole in the headliner or get grease on it.

Use a broomstick inserted in the jacket from the bottom end to remove the mast bushing and horn wire. Inspect the wire where it is soldered to the contact ring with an ohms meter. Should be excellent continuity. If not, the wire can be replaced with the exact same size wire. Use the connector on the bottom from the old wire.

To reassemble the mast jacket, after the mast jacket bushing is reinstalled, apply some axle grease on the steering shaft where it is bright from contact with the bushing. Place the jacket down on the shaft with the horn wire coming out the bottom side. Replace the clamp bolt and the U-bolt at the dash location. By use of a round file clean the two small holes in the steering wheel next to the center hole. Use some contact cleaner if you have it. Replace the ½ moon key, and install the steering wheel. Replace the chrome dish and then the ¾ drive nut, no washer. Tighten the nut.


Dish replaced and nut tightened.

Now grasp the horn button and squeeze the two prongs together so they are NOT parallel.



Insert the two prongs into the two small holes in the steering wheel. With a small screwdriver feed the rubber support into the chrome cup so it retains the button, but pushes the button up. If the battery was not disconnected for this repair, a push on the button should produce a noise from the horn.

Replace the floor-mat around the mast jacket and the rubber finish collar.



Completed installation of the horn button.

A better solution to removal of the steering wheel was published in the G&D page 10 October 2001 in the B&B column. It is to thread the small holes with a 10-32 tap. Position a steering wheel puller (or two arm puller) centered on the shaft with the nut removed and thread machine screws with washers into the tapped holes. Snug the center bolt on the puller and tap the center bolt with a hammer. The wheel will pop up a little and then can be removed. It does not require another person nor damage the wheel in any way. It has never failed.

Just remember that the horn has power to it all the time and all you are doing with pushing the horn button is making the connection to the ground. That is why a wire with bad insulation will cause the horn to sound when turning the steering wheel or hitting a bump or ?

If you do not have a puller you can take a piece of steel plate or thick strap or ? drill two holes that line up with the holes in the wheel and a larger center hole. Put the screws in the outside holes and a nut on the bottom side of the center hole. It is easier if you braze, epoxy, weld or otherwise attach the bolt but it is not necessary. Screw a bolt through the center hole and nut, screw the machine screws into the threaded holes and snug it. Tap on the bolt to loosen the wheel. We made one using 10 ga strap and it worked.

When I worked in a salvage yard as ahigh school student one summer the hammer, pull up on the wheel method was used, sometimes we had to use a BIG hammer and used a ball pien hammer instead of a punch, we also wrecked a couple of columns and sectors, but we found that was because the pull up guy wasn't strong enough to get the wheel off the first blow!
If you need to salvage the entire wheel and column the after market harmonic balancer puller that is found in auto parts stores works, however I had to grind out some of the chickenfoot part to get the bolts close enough together, that was for my 2 1951 cars.

I agree with the antique mechanic. You can get the durn wheel off while them other duds are looking for the tools. :confused:

Wow, The problem on my 57 chev horn Is when I turn the steering wheel left or right, The horn sometimes honks. As chipper says If It honks, It probably a frayed wire in the mast jacket. I have a new bushing that has the wire soldered to It. I have the steering wheel off but I can not budge the wire to pull out of the mast jacket.The wire goes about two feet down and then goes out thru a hole and clips onto another wire to complete the circuit. I have not taken the turn signal apart yet, But It looks like the horn wire winds thru the pieces of the turn signal and that may be where the wire may be frayed. The horn button works great going forward, But turning the wheel, Yikes. :) :)

Happy Days are here again. After spending a great amount of time trying to get the bushing wire out, It finally happened and then to thread the new wire back down the mast jacket, Well that also took a great deal of time, But now I have a working horn and I can actually drive down the road, Turn the steering wheel any way I want and that durn horn does not honk. It Is working great and sometimes some things turn out the way the Instructions say they well. At least I did not have to use a sledge hammer like Mackie Wackie does.

After all this time, I just noticed Ray didn't say to LOOSEN the big NUT holding the steering wheel on before hitting the punch with the large hammer!

MrMack,

Ray....hhhuuummm, I wonder how the Wacky one missed that?........
.... Maybe I better check inventory, no telling what else I am missing!

mrmack,

funny, but I was wondering the same thing about you when I reread the thread today...


epi

I don't mind getting older, but there seems that there is something about a mind I am missing?

Macky,
Thats just your C.R.S. (Can't Remember Stuff), acting up.
Dan

A couple of months ago, a friend and I went to his hunting camp where, over the years, he has abandoned a few vehicles. One was a '38 Chevy dune buggy. Not much left on it but I did want to get the steering wheel. Having been in the woods for many, many years, I did not think we had a chance of getting it off. Surprisingly, the retaining nut loosened very easily but the next question was how to pull the wheel. I put the retaining nut back on just flush with the shaft and gave it a couple of good whacks with a ball peen hammer as my friend pulled up on the wheel. It came off with no effort at all. You may ask, "Why would you want an old steering wheel carcus?" Because it was a banjo wheel and still in good enough condition to restore!!! Who would have thought. Stuart