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1967 - 1972 F-100 & Larger F-Series Trucks Discuss the Bumpsides Ford Truck

Horn Ground Problem

Old Apr 15, 2013 | 04:38 PM
  #1  
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Horn Ground Problem

My truck has been sitting since January because the inspection has been out.

Couldn't get the horn to work for the life of me, so Saturday I set about troubleshooting.


Applying power directly to the horn would make it sound, so I knew the horn was good.

I had installed a Grant steering wheel, so I rented a puller and pulled it off, and spent Saturday trying to figure out what was wrong.

I replaced the horn relay, but that didn't do it.

After several frustrating hours, I figured out the horn wasn't grounded correctly.

If I would bridge the brushes with a screwdriver and touch the shaft, it would not sound, but if I bridged the brushes and touched the steering column, the horn would sound.

I finally found a thread on here about grounding the rag joint.
THREAD:https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...rag-joint.html

I cleaned up my rag joint with a wire brush, and that seemed to do the trick. Horn works great now.

Just to be safe, I ran a wire from one side of the rag joint to the other like this:


Hope that helps someone in the future.

After that, I got her inspected and washed her up.

Cleans up pretty good (From about 10 feet).

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Old Apr 15, 2013 | 04:49 PM
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Did something very similar on my 66. There is a factory ground that can get destroyed over the years.

Good post.



John
 
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Old Apr 15, 2013 | 04:55 PM
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Is that a picture of your rag joint with ground strap? If so nice work.
 
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Old Apr 15, 2013 | 06:18 PM
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Thanks strongbad. I think you just saved me some aggrivation. My rag joint is all wet from a power steering leak. Good Job man.
 
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Old Apr 15, 2013 | 09:40 PM
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No, not my rag joint. This is a pic I found on the internet that I patterned my fix after. Glad the post is already helping out!
 
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Old Apr 16, 2013 | 05:49 PM
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I have a Grant wheel on my '69 F250, I'm going to have to try that. The Horn doesn't work on mine either. That may be why! Thanks for posting that!
 
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