Horn contact question

[CM II]

I rebuilt the steering column on my 64 and now the horn does not work right. If I run a ground from the turn signal stalk to the contact (spring thingy) the horn sounds. The contact is clean and seems to extend about as far as it can.I cleaned the race on the back of the steering wheel tighten down the steering wheel, add the horn ring and nothing. I tried grounding the horn ring and still no sound. The copper tang that connects the horn ring flexes when I attach it.

Am I missing something here? I even checked the floor mat and no extra parts. I usually start there : )

Thanks,
Chuck

[Terry64HT]

At first guess I think you are missing one or both ground wires at the bottom end of the steering shaft (not the column, but the solid steel rod that the steering wheel attaches to). Check that you have continuity from the top of the steering shaft to ground. If not, there are two wires at the bottom of the shaft, one across the rag joint and the other from the steering gear box to the chassis. I recall that there are really two grounds from the steering box.
Most of the time, that's where the problems lie.
Hope this helps
Terry
64HT

[64DropTop]

Thanks Terry!!!

I came here looking for this exact information! The horn grounds through the steering wheel and steering shaft - that I figured out. What I could NOT figure out is how those bits were grounded. On it tonight!

Dave

[Terry64HT]

Good luck. Let us know how things turn out.
Terry
64HT

[64DropTop]

So...I didn't see a grounding strap across the rag joint and verified with a VOM that the two portions of the steering shaft do not have continuity. I have my fix! Or so I thought...

There is a ground from the box to the body and I verified that it is good. I decided to check for ground on the lower portion of the steering shaft. None! The steering shaft is not grounded to the box! Even if I jumpered across the rag joint, I still won't have a ground.

Any ideas?

[lagovistatbird]

I am trying to put my horn buttons back into the steering wheel. Last year I took the steering wheel apart to replace the turn signal switch but got distracted and I am just now getting back to doing that. My problem is that I do not know where the two horn buttons go in the steering wheel. I have a 1966 thunderbird without cruise control. can anyone tell me where they go or provide a picture of their location?

[jtschug]

On a standard steering wheel the horn buttons go in the spokes of the wheel.

[lagovistatbird]

jtschug, Thank you for the response. I misnamed the part, I should have named it the horn brush. there are two of them, each of them is a round cylinder about 1/2 inch long with a spring on the end.

[jtschug]

Those are part of the column, not the steering wheel.

[lagovistatbird]

Thanks again for the response. Where do they go on the column?

[jtschug]

I feel like they are part of the turn signal switch, but I do not recall off the top of my head.

[Sierra John]

There's a video that shows the horn contacts pretty clearly (about 12:00 into the video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIvpssRjxOQ

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