Help with 1959 horn and removing steering column

You should probably pull the whole outer column, along with shaft out in one piece.

The shaft is splined to the upper coupling end. The coupling end has to be pulled off those splines and, after 47 years, that can be a bitch. May have to pry the shaft open a bit or heat the end.

Then remove the outer column clamp under the dash and yank.

Speedy Jim

Yes it really can be a pita to remove the splined shaft from the coupling. IF the gastank is still in place i would NOT recomend heat. The coupling is bolted together from (i believe) three parts. Upper and lower shaft and a rubber disc with 4 brass(?) bushings in it where the bolds go through.. If disconnecting the steering rod from the splined shaft isn't possible, you could try to unbold the coupling. Worst case: bolds are breaking. Make sure to re-assemble the coupling with a wire or ground strap.

Good luck, Roger

bug '59 wrote: >IF the gastank is still in place i would NOT recomend heat.

LOL! Good call! Jim

So far, so good. I disconnected the upper shaft at the coupler & remove the U-clamp that holds the steering tube under the dash. It's loose and I should be able to pull it out.

Once it's out, do I need to remove the steering wheel to get the shaft out of the tube? Does the shaft come out the top or bottom? Or either end?

All I need to do is gain access to the copper band so I can "fix" the circuit. Can anyone tell me what I should expect to find?

Sometimes I wonder if I should've just run a wire all the way down the center of the steering to to a bolt on the steering coupler, but I'd always know it wasn't correct. :-/

Thanks for your help. Matt

It's been a _long_ time since I had my '59. It looks like the shaft will come out either end, but there are the upper shaft bearings to contend with. I bet the steering wheel comes off and the shaft comes out the bottom.

Look for maybe a bakelite "spool" on the shaft with the copper slip ring.

I think you will need a wire to the coupling anyway; the ground path is thru the steering box ball bearings.

Jim

So it turns out I need to remove the clamp and remove the lower end from the upper steering shaft to get it through the firewall. I guess I should've done that first. :-( Without removing the steering shaft from the tube, I can't get access to the magical "copper band" that the horn wire supposedly attached to.

I can kindof see into the steering tube through the hold for the commutator and I can see the magical "copper band", but I can't slide the shaft out enough to examine it up close (or fix it) yet.

I'm a little nervous, however. It's still unclear to me how the wire attaches to this copper band. Since the copper band is on the outside of the steering shaft, how does the wire get into the center of the steering shaft? I'm really hoping there is a hole in the steering shaft. Also I'm really hoping that the copper band is indeed electrically isolated from the steering shaft. Also I'm really hoping that I have the correct steering shaft for my car. That would suck if I tore this all apart to find that I can't hook the circuit up correctly.

Any more insight?

Thanks! Matt

I sure hope I understand this.

It looks like, according to

Of course, I could be wrong. :-/

Matt

OK, I loosened the clamp on the steering shaft just above the coupler, squirted a little WD-40 into the splines, removed the turn signal stalk, and with a few hard yanks, the whole steering shaft / tube pulled out. It was much easier to understand the circuit once everything was apart.

So there is indeed a copper band around a cardboard insulator around the steering shaft. And there's a small hole - maybe 1/4" in diameter

- in the steering column just above the band where the wire goes in and comes out the top of the shaft. Frankly, I was surprised to see the wire since there was another wire connected to the horn that pulled out of the shaft, but whatever, it's clear this circuit was never correct. Anyway, I pulled out the wire & rethreaded it through the shaft and grabbed the end with needle nose pliers to pull it the whole way out the top of the shaft & installed the horn button. Then I sanded the dirt off the copper band to make sure the commutator brush would make a good connection.

Upon examining the steering shaft, it was clear from the wear marks that the bushing from the commutator was riding on the steering shaft itself, just below the copper band. The reason? Because the steering tube was pushed too far down - maybe an inch. This was good news for me because there was no short between the copper band and the steering shaft. I was able to slide everything together and test the circuit to make sure that it worked.

Back to the car - I reinstalled the steering shaft / tube and adjusted the position of the steering tube to make make sure that everything lined up and... oooooooo gggaaaahhhh. The horn is working again.

Now I just have to straighten the steering wheel and tighten everything back up and I should be good to go.

Thanks to everyone who provided assistance.

Cheers! Matt