Stupid Horn Question

The horn sounds off when I connect the Ground wire to the terminal on the outer steering tube.

I wanted to verify my wiring

ground cable runs from the steering coupler (grounded at the steering box), through the center steering shaft to the horn button.

The steering wheel adapeter has a small wire that connect to the other terminal on horn button.

The terminal at the end of the outer steering tube runs to the ground on the horn.

The + on the horn runs to the Horn Relay.

Is this correct???

Thanks
Todd

If I remember right, the horn is run hot and seeks ground. That's why it works with the ignition off, kind of like a radio you wire directly to the battery.
The wiring aroung the steering box coupler is hinkey if you run the ground through it, so it's simpler to use it to route the hot side and then ground to the steering shaft with the contact under the horn button.
I think that's come up here before.

Just checked mine.

Brown wire (from horn) runs to #85 on relay. Red (hot from fuse block) runs to #30, and Black (hot out to horn) to #87. (There's a splice from #30 to #86 as well.)

If all of the hots are in place, you probably have a broken wire in the shaft or where the ground jumps the steering coupler where it connects to the steering box and through it, a chassis ground.

If you're running an early column and shaft, check the horn brush(es) as well; upper-mid column.

This'll get you started. Maybe . . .

You need to make sure your steering tube is isolated from any ground source. Disconnect the wire jumper at the flexible coupler and make sure you have no ground source at the tube. If your tube in grounded then you need to isolate it. There is really only one spot and thats the mounting bracket. I used a piece of rubber like material (actually a piece of black stair tread cover from Home Depot) to make a spacer between the body support and the bracket. Then I used some vinyl tubing to insulate the bolts that went through the frame and onto the bracket, and finally some nylon washers under the nuts that hold the bracket onto the body frame. This ensures the tube is not grounded. The ground should travel from the steering box, across the wire jumper at the flex couple, into the steering shaft by the wire, onto the horn button. When the button is pushed it transfers the ground through the column to the tab below.
If your using a relay I would ground the horn, and run the power to the relay. Use the grounding source from the column to activate the relay and provide power to the horn.

Could it be the inner shaft touching the outer tube. If so where could it be touching, and how can I fix it?

Also, any good recommendations for a good mount where the shaft meets the firewall? I fabricates an "L" bracket and used a U bolt. It seems to do the trick, but I am game for a more elegant approach.

Todd

My steering shaft is most likely different from yours, but the principle may apply. I have two nylon bushings on either end of a shaft that's welded to the underside of my dash. The bushings are the same inside diameter as the outside diameter of the actual steering shaft, and they're held to the outer sleeve with eighth-inch aluminum rivets.
That might work for you, if you can make a support on either side of your firewall; it'd solve the isolation problem, too. Maybe?

Should I even ask what the Barbie heads are for?

Inner tube should be insulated from ground as well so no....that shouldn't be your problem. The only ground signal your steering should have (after the coupler which isulates the shaft thus the need for the jumper wire) is that wire which runs to the horn button.
There are many Hot rod shops that sell billet column mounts that swivel to adjust for anything.
Here is one from Flaming River...but there are others:

http://www.flamingriver.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=product/product_id=169/category_id=-1/home_id=-1/mode=prod/prd169.htm

Exes. The blonde was a wife, the redhead a significant other. Neither liked the car. If you see a brunette, I'll be living in the car and installing a sink and toilet.

Background is my childhood in Hawaii. Hawaiians put little chicken-feather-havin' gourd war helmets on their rear-views, indicating their Hawaiian or Polynesian heritage.

http://www.islandgirlz.com/shop/index.php?cat=12&shop=1&

My uncle and his cronies used to hang Barbie heads to signify their Euro lineage and just to be funny. It was a fad in the late 60s, but you still see them from time to time. I modified it to show the car's combat record.

Thanks Jeff, I read your past formum post on this. Sounds like we have had the same issue.

I think my issue in the inside the tube. I have disconnected the outer tube from the mount and tried it. It still goes off. I am thinking the inner bearing it grounding.

Todd

Todd,
This can be a frustrating thing. If you pulled the column from the mount I wonder where you are getting a ground signal? You have the wire running inside the inner tube right? You may want to try this...take the jumper wire at the coupler and attach it directly to the bolt on the steering box side. Usually the jumper wire goes from the bolt on the box side to a bolt on the inner tube side (make sense?). If you take the neg signal from the steering box side of the coupler, run it to the horn button, and isolate the outter tube, it should work.

I figured it out. The previous owner of the steering shaft connected the copper ground wire at the coupler directly to the hollow steering shaft. So as soon at I connected the turn signal it was grounded. I ran a fresh ground wire to the correct coupler post it yada yada yada, the horn it working.

Thanks for all the feedback.

Todd