Horn is suddenly inop in my 64 Ford. Messed around with it and discovered the relay and horn itself works OK. The horn wire exiting the firewall into the engine bay, sounds the horn when grounded. But that wire will not beep continuity to ground with multimeter when horn ****on is depressed. SO, it must be a break in the wire somewhere in the cab correct? There's no fuse for the horn is there? I couldn't find anything. I'll have to look at the diagram but I don't believe so. Everything else works. Had a little trouble once in the past with the horn brush itself, the copper deal with the spring. Polished that up shiny and it worked great 100% of the time. Have to do more 'vestigatin, but it looks like the fix will involve dis***embling the column shift, not really a task I'm looking forward to. Am I missing a troubleshooting step here?
Up to '57, Ford used a wire down the center of the steering shaft to activate the horn. In '58, Ford incorporated the horn wire into the turn signal switch, so to troubleshoot it you'll want to pull the steering wheel. There's a small carbon brush on the switch that contacts the 'commutator' on the steering wheel, make sure that isn't worn away or broken. Worse case, you'll have to replace the turn signal switch. You don't have to tear the column apart...
Ok to be clear, you're saying there's yet another brush under the steering wheel different than the one in the photo? I pulled this brush out and inserted a drill bit so it would touch the contact at the bottom. It does not show any continuity with the horn wire as it exits the firewall.
Yes, there's another brush between the back of the steering wheel and the turn signal switch. You'll need to pull the wheel to see it. That brush is what's connected to the relay. It may be dirty contacts in the wheel too, so make sure you have continuity between the one in the pic and the contact on the back of the wheel.
Ok, now I'm tracking. Never noticed the other brush before I guess. Pulled the steering wheel, the brush that contacts the commutator on the underside has gone on to its reward. Maybe could solder in another wire, depending how much they want for the little *******s retail. Are they both identical you think? Thanks for the help, made it easy.
It's been a long time since I've been in one of those, but IIRC the brushes are very similar if not identical. I don't know if those are available separately, they may only come with a new switch. But I'm pretty sure this is a 'generic' part that could be robbed from most any '60s/'70s Ford turn switch.
And they want $20 for 'em. Jeeze. I'm not poor, at least not yet. I'm going to attempt Open Horn Ring Brush Surgery, and see if I can't make it work. Anything else I should be doing with the wheel off? Maybe grease the turn signal cam ***embly &c? Thanks again.
working on getting the horns working on my 64 f100 as well , but cant remember how and where they were mounted on the rad support . any chance of a photo or 2 if yours are original ?? thanks
Thanks . My brackets may be wrong . Owned the truck 30 years now . Finally decided I should have a horn , Getting too old and lazy to give the finger anymore .
And BTW if you happen to lose the spring on the floor of the garage - a ball point pen, the kind that clicks has one just like it, works slick as hell. Ask me how I know
Celebrated too soon. Went out a week or so ago, and the horn inop again?? So I pulled the steering wheel again, and shined up the lower brush contact surface. Put it back together and worked OK. Now it's inop again?? All I can think of is something is horked in the turn signal switch, but it's so simple can't really see how.
sorry I meant another Joe nothing personal going by date he may not be back it was about his horn locations.still trying to get my head around the fact that there is more than one Joe in the world
Well I reefed the steering wheel down tighter, and that seemed to help. Maybe that was the problem. Pretty damn tight already, don't want to strip threads.
Right, it ain't much. I looked it up. 35-55 Ft-Lbs. I cleaned up the taper on both parts with a scotchbrite but it's always needed to be reefed down pretty good to seat fully. The OEM then staked the nut & steering shaft together with a punch. To tighten the nut back to this same point, is far more than 55 pounds torque.
Yep, used a scotchbrite a little bit on that too, cleaned the crud off with lighter fluid and then a thin coat of NO-OX. I try to go the extra mile on pita stuff, with an eye towards not having to go back in. I don't use the horn too often but when I need it I need it. Startin' to piss me off. I think this fixed it.
My '55 F100 got a pair of '53 horns from a 6V Vicky parts car, resulting in that marvelous 'Ford Only' sound, pronounced with 12 Volts. I 'updated' it a little, with a combination of Cad Eldo b***, Buick Riv tenor, and Olds tweeter. Used the Cad relay, now sounds like a Santa Fe Locomotive. Scares the hell out of idiots that ignore my rite of p***age...
The Jalopy Journal
