I bought a new 40 Ford steering wheel to fit a GM column but I have no idea how to make the horn work. the horn button has a wire with a spring on it and little plastic piece with keys on it that looks like it is supposed to lock into something. there is a hole in the steering wheel but the wire drops right down thru it. there are 3 brass contacts on the csteering column for the horn to contact but i dont understand how to get power from the column up to the horn button. Hope you guys can help. Thanks
looks to me that you are missing some parts in that GM column. there is a plastic piece that has a tube that the horn wire goes into i've used a couple of those wheels and they fit and worked great
I took that column out of the car and dissasembled it myself. there were no other parts in it. this is a tilt/telescoping column. are they different?
Did you pull the steering wheel off of it yourself ? If so you left some parts on the wheel itself possibly. If the wheel was removed then again you are missing parts. In either case you are missing parts !! Now that we have said it this many times you understand
I understand I am missing something. Thats why the post is titled "WHAT am I missing?" Can anyone tell me what is missing or take a picture of thier column to help me out? Thanks
I have a Cadillac tilt/tele column in my coupe. Mine has a big spring type thing that rides on a contact down inside the column then goes through a a plastic collar in the bottom of the steering wheel. A wire is attached to the end of the spring and then onto the horn contact. The large spring type affair allows the column to telescope and still maintain contact. Not sure if yours is the same style or year but maybe this will help give you an idea on what may or may not be missing.
Tilt telescopic is different. The part you need is the turn signal canceling cam. The regular tilt and standard use it to cancel the turn signal and has a contact for the horn and the tube to go inside the middle size hole on that steering wheel you have.
The original '40 Ford column had the ground wire running up through the center of the steering shaft, exiting at the steering box & at the horn ring. The horn button/spring grounded the wire to honk the horn. The original '40 Ford column & Limeworks steering wheel in my '31 still won't honk!!! Don
Hi Chevyburb I see your having a horn problem What contact are you using at the top of the wheel ? the original & Repro should be a pressed steel housing with a contact in the center, this is grounded when the button is pressed . Check that when you take off the horn button , if it does not make contact maybe a spacer under it will help it reach the button. On a GM adaption you need a solid connection from the horn ring inside the column to the button . With our GM wheels we make all the parts to replace the original GM wire that is held in with the plastic twist housing.That is what is missing along with the GM white housing that holds said ground wire.
It looks like you are missing the horn contact plate. It is also the part that cancels the turn signals. It is available in the HELP! section of most auto parts stores. It is Dorman/Motormite part #83232.
The turn signal cam is in there. it is underneath the locking plate. that all works fine. It signal cam has nothing to do with the horn plate on this column. I'll have to look at that one in the help section to see if I can adapt the horn ring plate to work. I'd love to see pictures of someone elses column under the steering wheel Thanks
In your picture of the column it does not show the horn wire tube sticking up thru the lock plate that you normally see in GM columns. If the tabs that are visible thru the holes in the lock plate are the brass tabs on the inner contact ring, you could just solder a wire onto one of them, make sure it does not contact the lock plate, and run it up thru the hole in the wheel and connect to the horn button from there.
Looks like you need to fab your own horn wire up .Thats the problem with aftermarket stuff ,Your wheel is missing the horn kit.On ford the wire runs down the center of the column ,You could solder a wire on your connector plate inside column and then fab some type of brass plate that contacts the wire via another plate that attaches to the horn button .
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