horn wire at modified steering column

[DonaldSmith]

Post-war Mopars and other cars of that era run the horn wire from the grounding contact at the steering wheel through the length of the steering shaft and out the bottom of the steering gearbox, on its way to the horn relay.  This poses an obstacle for modifying the steering column with U-joints, as done for going to power steering and/or rack-and-pinion steering.

 

The solution is to make a commutator in the shaft, to get the grounding circuit out of the shaft and through the steering jacket.  The commutator consist of a sleeve that is insulated from the shaft but connected to the wire from the shaft, and a carbon brush, like in a motor, to which the wire from the horn relay is connected.

 

Now, you can buy such a gizmo such as the Retro horn Kit from Lime Works, for fifty bucks.  Or, being resourceful and cheap like me, you can make your own.  In either case, you may profit from my most recent experiences.  (The horn would honk randomly when the wheel is turned - dang!) 

 

For the commutator sleeve, you can find a bronze bushing, or use a chunk of copper pipe, in this case one-inch.  Insulate it from the shaft with cardboard saturated with epoxy or superglue.  Make and elongate a hole in the shaft for the wire from the steering wheel.  Solder the wire to the commutator.  (Make sure that you get the copper hot enough to melt the solder, so that you don't get a cold solder joint.  Sadder but wiser.  Stay tuned.) 

 

 

For the contact, you can get a copper brush at the local hardware store.  This one's a quarter-inch square.  My first attempt has a square guide that made from plastic.  It wasn't very square and the edges seemed to fray.  When the phantom sounds occurred, I junked the first attempt and fabricated a second pickup.  I used a basswood form to fabricate a thin metal sleeve, which is epoxied to and insulated from the pipe nipple.  Much better.

 

 

The original contact was on top of the column and too far forward, difficult if not impossible to service.  

 

 

Now, to install the new contact, I made a saddle to fit over a new hoe Dremeled into the side of the column.

 

 

I cut the column jacket open to see what was grounding the circuit when I turned the wheel.  Shazam!  Cold solder joint at the wire!  Enough strands were soldered to the commutator to honk the horn when I wanted to, but the wire would flop against the jacket when I turned the wheel.  I re-soldered the wire, making sure to get solder flow at the commutator.  That ought to do it.   

 

Oops,files too big.  To be continued.

 

 

 

[DonaldSmith]

Continued.. Steering column laid open, loose wire:

 

 

(Almost) Final view of new contact assembly: 

 

 

Since the photo, I had to cover the hole in the jacket that I extended to inspect the wire connection.  So I sheathed the jacket with a thin metal sheet, sprayed the same hammertone finish as the column. 

 

I think I 'm done with  this episode.  Keep fingers crossed.   

 

 

 

 

[Oldguy48]

Great job...I love the creativity of the forum members here.  Face a challenging problem, and find a way to fix it.  Thanks for sharing that with us.

 

Wayne

[scotty t]

i don't  have your ingenuity but i do have decent google skills, i found this:

 

 

http://www.kaiserwillys.com/product/1455/willys-jeep-electrical-horn-repair-parts-accessories