Always a good idea to remove the brown wire from the horn end and unthread it from the bent metal clips across from the left hand side .Before you undo the base of the steering column and yank it apart. The spade is riveted on, and there is not much clearance inside the steering column for alternatives - even a larger pop rivet may extend too far and you will start randomly hooting people as you haul on the steering wheel while parking, and the end of the fixing hits the inner column and earths. A pop rivet from outside tag on inside should work provided you get it to properly grip the tag rather than expand with the tag part way up the bulge of the rivet spaced away from the tube. The rivet may still need filing down inside the column. In the end I pop riveted a tag on the outside and rerouted the wire as it kept getting caught if it was not perfectly routed to the tag location under the cover.
yeah mine has broken off a bit lower down from the rivet, just gonna try and braze it back on end to end for the moment and see how that goes. One question I have is are there replacement tabs available or did you just make one up from a normal male spade ?
My setup actually now has a ring terminal on the outside of the column that is attached to a flying lead with an insulated male spade that plugs into the horn female spade connector underneath but in easy reach, somewhere I will see it and remember to disconnect it the next time I am working on the steering column. For other applications I have also experimented with buying a sheet of thin brass (1mm is a bit thick but will go into a female spade connector ) and cutting out a tab of the correct design.
yeah it turned out to fiddly to reconnect the half a bit of brass so the guy plug welded a steel strip inside the tube using the rivet hole. Not sure on it not being brass is a problem but I can re-visit it later if needs be.
I'm sure that'll be fine, the earthing tabs under the dash are steel too. Just get some dielectric grease to protect it a bit, it's relatively hidden from the weather anyway.
No it doesnt really matter until it corrodes. Smeared with grease will slow it down. Just make sure the wire cannot catch on the coupler bolts which should be pointed down to make them stick up less and fall out with greater difficulty ..
Something is still amiss regarding my horn wiring now I have the steering box and needle bearing etc back in. Might be another thing for techenders.... Continuity is there from the horn spade tab down through the column to the connection underneath the coupling bolt and from the wire on previously broken tab to the actual column ... Edit: horn also goes off with ignition on when I connect btm of coupling bolts to the top half...
Do you have the insulators/top hat washers under the three screws round the horn push? They stop the screws and springs from touching the moving bit of the horn push switch, the bit where the other end of the brown wire connects under the plastic dome of the button.
I have a moto-lita steering wheel and boss... I've checked the operation of the horn push and its also working as intended, continuity when I press the button...
The brown wire should be connected to one side of the horn push switch, and nothing else. Maybe one side of the horn switch is by design connected to the boss of the steering wheel..like a stock bus. You dont want to connect the brown wire that side, but to a terminal that only connects to the boss when you press the button.. If the horn goes off even with the wire disconnected at the top, as soon as you connect it at the bottom, you need to make up a new wire and pull it through as it is damaged.
Continuity to ring terminal on bolt steering box side of coupling… Continuity to the wire connected to spade on steering column tube… When it’s all connected there is nothing from pushing the horn button. Which I’ve checked works when removed from boss… I can only think that there’s some missing link from the metal housing surrounding the horn push button to the steering column when it’s sitting in the boss. ignition on and horn does go off if I short between the top and bottom flanges around the rubber coupling… I’m kind of baffling myself when writing this so hope it makes some sense…
Yes if the button is a normal switch, both terminals of the switch are usually totally insulated both sides from the surroundings.. Try a second wire from the other terminal of the push button if it has one or the metal of the surroundings of the switch if only one terminal. Connect the other end to metal connected to the steering column metalwork.. If the horn goes off when you short the coupler, that means the brown earth wire connected to the bottom steering box side of the coupler should sound the horn when you touch it to metalwork anywhere at the top of the column. The switch needs to bridge the brown wire to a bit of metal that sounds the horn when you touch it with the brown wire. A small hole drilled, self tapper / bolt / pop rivet and ring terminal to make a connection from that point to the other end of the switch..
Am sorting mine this weekend as it has come off (see attached diagram) Thinking can connect to outer column under the dome cap then send to horn, making it accessible?
I managed to fit a small 4mm countersunk head allen bolt on the inside of the outer tube, thread sticking out. Then attached an eyelet crimp and ran down to the Horn through the floor pan, making it accessible under the dome cover Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Excellent, just managed to pull out the wire from center of column, looks like will have to unbolt to send wire back
Correction, it’s above the dome cover, which I really need to paint . But hey, it works and that’s all that matters Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I found that under some circumstances, a bolt head like that was close enough for a little "toot" usually when reversing under stress into a tight corner... And yes, TLB wits, sometimes from the horn on the bus... BTW if you lift the front wheels off the ground you should be able to get to the steering coupler bolts with a ring spanner and a socket if you turn the coupler to the correct angle..so it doesnt have to come out above the floor.
