Steering Wheel/Horn Button Issue & Ques?

[blink32]

Ok, so its a 76 Chevy K10. Horn didn't work when I got it off my grandpa. And after some investigation I think i'm missing a part or its put together incorretly.

The button didn't have any kind of "spring" or pressure to it, it just fult like it was pushed all the way in all the time. So I ordered up #8, horn button kit with the spring, rod and retainer:



Open up the steering will, and discover that I have the spring, but the rod and retainer are missing. Install the new spring, rod and retainer in the RED circled hole:



Now if I touch metal to the top of that rod then to the steering colum or the steering wheel mount the circuit grounds and the horn sounds, so I know the rest of the circuit is good.

Here are all the parts that came off of it, the steering wheel nut retaining clip is hard to see so its circled in red.(i only took the nut and reting clip off because I thought I was going to remove the wheel, but I had no puller):



And here are all of the componets installed in the wheel:



That large thin metal washer type part goes on first and it is totally smooth on both sides, then the cup with the 3 screws on top of it. I still have no horn, although the button seems to have tension now and I can push it down and it feels like a normal horn. But I don't see any way that the rod that is recessed in that hole will ever make contact with anything metal to complete the circuit. There is nothing protruduing down into the hole from that spacer. Am I missing a part? Or am I putting it together incorrectly? The rod that is in the turn signal cam is installed as show, flat end at the bottom, spring, then retainer on top. The only thing I can think of is if there maybe is supposed to be a spring below it as well to push it out just a bit, then as you push down on the button it will in turn push down on that thin metal spacer making contact with the rod? Any help is appreciated.

[82 Silverado 4X]

Try inserting the spring first, then the rod, then the retainer.
This will push the rod up against the concave metal plate to make contact.

[blink32]

I did mess with that configuration. The 2 issue's that arose (in my tests) were that if you installed the retainer, it still pushed the rod down into the cancelling cam, so it was below the flush level. Then if I didn't use the retainer at all the rod was making contact 100% of the time with the thin metal bushing plate. I'm going to mess with it again tomorrow after I take a trip out to the Junkyard and peek at some other truck steering wheels.

[82 Silverado 4X]

The spring goes in first, then the pin with that large diameter head down. It will push against the spring. Then put in the retainer to hold in the pin. Make sure the pin is put in the same direction as the photo you scanned. The only difference is the spring in the picture should be under the pin. You should now be able to push in on the pin and release it without it popping back out.
Another thing to watch is if you put the thin round concave disc in upside down it will make contact all the time. Make sure that the center of the disc is dished up. It will rest on the outer vinyl edge of the steering wheel center. When you push in on it, it will make contact with the center flange near the nut and the horn will blow. If all is good at that point, reinstall and screw the metal retainer with the plastic insulator back in and push it to see if the horn blows.

[blink32]

going to try it in that order right now!

[blink32]

Thank you for the help. It works, but then again it doesn't work. The first order of business was to cut the rod shorter, no big deal, cut a little, test fit, cut a little, etc. I'll get that worked out.

The main problem is that metal spacer. If I insert it so the center concave points out towards me and the edges rest on the rubber lip, when I tighten down the retaining ring with the screws in plastic it will bottom out and the horn button retaining cup is that "always pushed in" feel and the horn is always on. If I reverse it and put the concave down then the horn button has the feel of movement but the spacer is in full time contact with the rod-on-a-spring causing the horn to always be on.

I'm either missing some spacers that go on the bottom of the screws or the thin metal spacer is mis-shaped, or I just need to cut a lot more off the rod-on-a-spring and I'm not comfy doing that until I have a spare just incase I take off too much. Either way I'm going to strip stuff from the Jyard tomorrow to see which one is the case and hopefully solve it.

thank you again for your help 82Silverado.

[520CheyenneK10]

Originally Posted by blink32

Thank you for the help. It works, but then again it doesn't work. The first order of business was to cut the rod shorter, no big deal, cut a little, test fit, cut a little, etc. I'll get that worked out.

The main problem is that metal spacer. If I insert it so the center concave points out towards me and the edges rest on the rubber lip, when I tighten down the retaining ring with the screws in plastic it will bottom out and the horn button retaining cup is that "always pushed in" feel and the horn is always on. If I reverse it and put the concave down then the horn button has the feel of movement but the spacer is in full time contact with the rod-on-a-spring causing the horn to always be on.

I'm either missing some spacers that go on the bottom of the screws or the thin metal spacer is mis-shaped, or I just need to cut a lot more off the rod-on-a-spring and I'm not comfy doing that until I have a spare just incase I take off too much. Either way I'm going to strip stuff from the Jyard tomorrow to see which one is the case and hopefully solve it.

thank you again for your help 82Silverado.

I PM'd you and forgot to ask if you ever got it to work?