Horn / Steering Column Earth

[mickeywheelspin]

Hi all,

After a brief break - about a year or so  :B..... Its high time I started getting the spit sorted again.  I've got a few issues to resolve but at the moment the simplest and most annoying is that I can't get the blumin' horns to work.

I've fitted new air horns, moto-lita steering wheel, pencil push rod and push rod contact disc tingamy but cant get the horns to fire.  After much testing I've worked out that the problem is that there is no route to earth via the steering wheel / steering column and when I short the rack to earth the horns work fine.  Does the rack / column have an earth bond that I am missing?  I can see that it makes sense for it to be electrically insulated as it's all held down with rubber AV mounts etc. but if it's insulated it should have an earth bond shouldn't it?

Thanks in advance.

Mike

[heraldcoupe]

There is an internal ground wire across the steering coupling, this fractures with age and leaves the column floating.
A simple flexible wire with a loop crimped on each end can be fixed via the pinchbolt at each end to restore the ground path.

There is also a strap from the steering rack to ground, not usually at fault but sometimes omitted during work on the steering.

Cheers,
Bill.

[Velocita Rosso]

I had all the same symptoms and the joint connecting earth strap was missing
However thats only with the original rubber insert joints, the all metal joints dont pose a problem

[mickeywheelspin]

Thanks guys.

It's odd because it seems that the steering column connects (electrically) to the rack but there is no earth connection from the rack to the car body, presumably because all of the mounts are rubber insulated?

heraldcoupe wrote:

There is also a strap from the steering rack to ground

Is there a earth point on the rack body then?  I had a quick look for a likely looking bolt but couldnt see anything.

Thanks,

Mike

[Velocita Rosso]

Generally the grease nipple on top of the  rack is used with an eye termination then affixed to the front turret/tower
The braided/eyed strap then connects the two halfs of the steering column UJ(unless its a modern all meatal joint)