Hello, Just bought a "farm truck", horn doesn't blow when pressed. Relay is new, horn itself works. All wires seem to be connected and the fuses are good.
I wanted advice before I start ripping into the steering wheel. Are the screws on the back side of the steering wheel what holds the molding on? Is that how I get at the button? My "manual" makes no reference to horn repair. Is this usually a fix or a replacement? Thanks for any help.

Jim
NC

 

Yes,the screws hold the molding on, the wire runs through the middle of the column and all the button dose is ground the relay. if you want to fix the factory horn button you need to tear into the column, you can get a kit at just about any parts house,. If you just want the horn to work for about two bucks you can buy an after market button that clamps to the side of the column or you can mount it on the dash and you don`t have to tear into the column, takes five minutes to install. run a wire from the button to the relay and make sure the switch is mounted to metal for a good ground, I put one in my truck and it works fine, It`s not for show but I just wanted the horn to work.

 

Many horn failures are caused by the rag joint in the steering column. It is the rubber insulator where the steering column connects to the steering shaft to the steering box.
A lot of times merely adding jumper wire across the joint will fix the horn, as the rubber part insulates the horn button/steering column from a good ground.

 

Thanks guys. Hey Sparky, I should wish i could see what you're talking about. I'm pretty inept at this.

Jim

 

Sparky may be on the right track. The rag joint connects the steering shaft to the steering gear. It's on top of the steering box. There should be a wire across the joint to supply gound to the horn.

 

Jim,

Sparky is absolutely on the right track here. My 76 F-250 horn blows when I jumper the horn relay to ground. It blows when I connect the spade lug underneath the horn pad in the steering wheel to a good ground inside the truck.

My problem was the rag joint also. It is a small black round thing about the diameter of a hockey puck, but not as thick, underneath the master cylinder that connects the steering column to the steering gear. I bought a metal braid at an auto parts store and shorted from the steering column to the stub that goes into the steering gear box that is bolted to the chassis to get a good ground up to the steering wheel bolt.

I bought one of those ugly after market horn buttons also, as my horn switches in each "finger pad" on the steering spokes were gutted out of the pad by the previous owner. He put a new steering gear in the truck, thought the problem with the horn was in the steering wheel pad finger buttons, but the problem was really his removal of a factory jumper from the steering colum to the gear stub across the rag joint.

Anyone know where I can get a new steering wheel button set I'm calling a "finger pad" above? Its the rubber thing that insets in the steering wheel that covers up the steering wheel bolt.

Am I making sense to anyone here?

Have fun with your trucks, guys. Mine is always a terrific stress outlet after a crazy day at work!

Also thanks to the FTE moderators and contributors. I love reading this stuff and finding out I'm not the only one wrestling with some of these crazy issues.

Tom