'72 C-10 Steering Wheel Problem

[C10 - C90 Bill]

Changing my old rough green Steering Wheel to a good used original black one. I'm having trouble with the Horn Assembly. On my old wheel, the plastic ridges on the inside are pretty much even with the metal base and when completely assembled, I'm getting a good "rock" with the horn cap cup to properly operate the horn. On the black wheel, the inside ridges which the metal plate sits on are higher and when assembled I'm getting just about no rock and the horn will not operate correctly.

Stranger yet, I have a 2nd black wheel in good condition and those inside plastic ridges are even higher. Making it also not able to work properly.

Wondering if is a known problem with these old wheels? Unless there are 2 different designs, it's almost like the plastic got effected by the heat all through the years.

Any help would be appreciated.

[C10 - C90 Bill]

OK, I believe I got it figured out. I need to build up the metal base with small metal washers to bring the level up to equal the plastic ridges. Now if this doesn't work, the wheel is going in the junk pile, lol.

[special-K]

I've never noticed any difference in horn mounting. That's an interesting detail

[C10 - C90 Bill]

Originally Posted by special-K

I've never noticed any difference in horn mounting. That's an interesting detail

I'm convinced that the problem is all warpage of the plastic due to age and years of heat. Since it would be possible for the problem to get worse as time goes on, I decided to just go with a new one. I ordered one this week.

While I was trying to install it and testing it by hitting the horn button, the horn went went off and stayed on till I dis-connected the wire. If I did temporarily fix it, I didn't want to horn going off in time on it's own.

I had a horn go off in the middle of the night once on my '56 Chevy years ago. Once is enough, lol.

I believe the problem isn't that well known as I say the average truck owner out there goes with a custom replacement before a problem like this arises.

I'm too much of an original parts fan, lol.

[dmjlambert]

The inside ridge of plastic is supposed to be higher than the metal, but it's not a precise thing. You don't want the convex spring to touch the metal around its outside edge, you only want the inner cut-out circle of the convex spring to touch the hub near the steering wheel mount bolt when pushed. If the outside edge plastic and metal are even, that is when you can get the horn coming on by itself. Horn gut kits often come with a plastic ring that you can use to add height to the plastic, or you can cut a coffee can lid and it will do the same thing. On an old warped steering wheel, you can fix it up to be reliable using a moto-tool to reduce plastic, or add plastic spacers as needed, and it will last another 50 years. The wheel is probably pretty much done warping.

[C10 - C90 Bill]

Originally Posted by dmjlambert

The inside ridge of plastic is supposed to be higher than the metal, but it's not a precise thing. You don't want the convex spring to touch the metal around its outside edge, you only want the inner cut-out circle of the convex spring to touch the hub near the steering wheel mount bolt when pushed. If the outside edge plastic and metal are even, that is when you can get the horn coming on by itself. Horn gut kits often come with a plastic ring that you can use to add height to the plastic, or you can cut a coffee can lid and it will do the same thing. On an old warped steering wheel, you can fix it up to be reliable using a moto-tool to reduce plastic, or add plastic spacers as needed, and it will last another 50 years. The wheel is probably pretty much done warping.

Appreciate that info. Moto-Tool sounds like a good idea as well as the plastic spacers. Good to see someone out there that knows what I'm talking about.

['68OrangeSunshine]

Originally Posted by special-K

I've never noticed any difference in horn mounting. That's an interesting detail

'67-'68 MY had a shorter aluminum Horn Cup [~3/4''] while the '69- '72 Cup is ~1''.

This may not be the OP's issue.