Maverick

I did a steering swap last night. Old style wheel on my 1971 Cutlass Supreme convertible, to a Ralleye model. Factory olds. The horn never was 100% , but it does not work at all now . Any ideas what to look for ? I was thinking I should disassemble and sand all metal contact parts.

Can't think of anything else . Pretty simple swap .

celser

If its the same wheel I have there is a spring and a plastic sleeve that hold the wire in the wheel that turns on the contact ring in the colum. Put an ohm meter on the wire and brass end and see if you have continuity. If not replace the wire. My wire was there and looked good but was broken inside. If its not the wire, put a probe in the hole and see if you have a ground or check the ears on the sleeve and see if they are holding it in the hole properly.

Maverick

I don't remember seeing any wire . Just the spring loaded plastic piece coming out of the steering column. I'll have a look regardless. Need to get it going. I can only yell so loud.

joe_padavano

If by "Ralley" model you mean the four spoke steering wheel, people frequently get the contact wrong. There are three parts to the contact that goes inside the plastic tower in the steering wheel hub. The spring goes in first. The metal eyelet contact goes in next, large end down (towards the spring). Finally, the plastic lock ring goes in with a quarter turn to lock it in place in the tower. Now you should have a spring-loaded metal eyelet sticking up. The horn contact ring has an "L" shaped feature on the bottom that contacts this eyelet. Snap on the horn cap and you're done.

Maverick

Thanks Joe. I overlooked the "L" part on the ring. Works fine when things line up.