Steering Top Bearing - Horn issues

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Zcat7

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The old horn wiring challenge again...

I'm trying to re-instate my steering horn push as I have a toggle on the dash at present. I have earth on the centre wire and both the column and tube are isolated from chassis earth, which is a good start. When I push the horn button it transfers earth to the column/steering wheel but it doesn't make it to the tube to send the earth, via the tag at the bottom, to the horn. What is the main "electrical" connection between the steering column and tube, is it this bearing?

It's worth noting that I have an after-market steering wheel (some sort of 3 spoke Moto-Lita type thing) so no indicator cancelling and a cassette type horn push that sends the earth to the steering wheel.
 

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Have you checked the wire coming up the centre of column goes to ground? Needs to go to steering box side of flex coupling. Remember the column outer is "live" from horn ( okay earth side of horn) and gets grounded down the centre wire, there is an ign live feed to horn for it to work.
 
67panel said:
Have you checked the wire coming up the centre of column goes to ground? Needs to go to steering box side of flex coupling. Remember the column outer is "live" from horn ( okay earth side of horn) and gets grounded down the centre wire, there is an ign live feed to horn for it to work.
Click to expand...
Hi 67panel. Yes the wire does go to ground, I just refer to it as "earth". For full clarity its the chassis ground/earth that I find on the wire, coming from the box as expected. It transfers fine to the steering column/rod when the button is pressed but does not make it across to the steering tube. Also, yes there is power to the horn. Thanks.
 
Fixed! It was indeed the top bearing. It was so covered in crappy grease that it was insulating the column from the tube. I pulled the column assemnly apart but left it in situ (so didn't disconnect the shaft from the rubber flange). I could lift the tube up enough to get to everything at the top, plus I even managed to restore the original wiring as the tag was still on the bottom of the tube.
The bearing doesn't look as good as the one in the picture. It might be nice to replace it one day as its a bit floppy and there's a couple of mil of lateral play but it's good enough for now and no worse than before feel wise.
I was actually really surprised that it wasn't so hard to do in the end, only took 2 or 3 hours in all over a couple of days. It was certainly much easier to lift the column tube up than I thought it would be.
 

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