taped up horn button

[lobuck76]

The '71 has the signature black tape holding the horn button on the steering wheel. (like about every other one that I've ever seen).
It looks like the plastic piece undernieth is broke. I looked in the D.C. catalog and lmc. I didn't see the horn button in either.
Did I miss it or do I need to chunk it and go with aftermarket wheel?
I may even go with the earlier steering wheel and horn ring. Any thoughts?

[willowbilly3]

Those steering wheels were real prone to cracking and the horn button was a crappy design. I have always just replaced them with my persoanal favorite, the 15 inch 3 spoke wood wheel from Superior. They used to be under $100 but that was a few years back.

[lobuck76]

I'll probabley go with a '70 steering wheel with the horn ring. I spotted a decent one on my last salvage yard run. They also had a 3 spoke aluminum/foam aftermarket wheel that looked ok, but it really didn't seem like it would look right in the f100.
I also spotted one of the late '70's factory steering wheels, the 3 spoke aluminum but it was in terrible shape. That would be my preference. I read on a thread that that was a high doller ebay item.

[FORDification]

The '71-'72 rubber horn inserts should slightly stretch over the plastic piece and the rubber has a lip which is supposed to catch along the lip of the plastic. In addition, the rubber slides under 3 plastic tabs along the center (2 on bottom, 1 on top, the yellow arrows), and it also has 4 small tabs which slide into grooves (green arrows). If the 3 plastic tabs are broken off and/or the rubber tabs are broken off, they the rubber will have to be taped on.



In this closeup of the bottom side, you can see that one of the plastic tabs is broken off and the other is JUST about ready to come off.



I was in the truck as a kid when my dad and I got stuck in a ditch, and as he was whipping away on the steering wheel, he caught the edge of the rubber and ripped it out, and it was never the same. From that day on, it too was held on with black electrical tape.

Anyway, you might pull yours apart to see if it is indeed the plastic piece that has broken or if it's the rubber part. Sometimes if the ridge around the edge of the rubber piece is split or broken, it won't stay on. The rubber piece I have is in good shape, but as you can see the 3 plastic tabs are broken. However, when I parted this truck out, it looked perfect and was tight. I don't think the tabs were absolutely necessary, but they'd sure help. Anyway, if you're interested, you can have this one.

[willowbilly3]

I'm not sure how new of steering wheel will fir. My 75 has a 79 wheel and the horn contacts don't line up. I personally think the 3 spoke wood wheel looks good and I always get alot of compliments on it. I don't much care for those small flat Grant wheels in a stock interior.

[lobuck76]

That sounds great Keith. You might need to shoot me an email with your address, not sure if I still have it. I'll send a check to cover shipping.

[DuckRyder]

D-C has them.

BTW, putting the 67-70 wheel on the 71-72 columb is not a bolt on.

You have to grind some off of the steering shaft and/or modify the horn buttom to make it work, and I'm still not positive that you could do it and make the horn work.

[FORDification]

That sounds great Keith. You might need to shoot me an email with your address, not sure if I still have it. I'll send a check to cover shipping.

Hey, don't worry about the shipping. I think I can cover the couple bucks this thing will take to ship. Just PM me your mailing address and I'll get it in the mail to you within the next several days.

BTW, putting the 67-70 wheel on the 71-72 columb is not a bolt on.

You have to grind some off of the steering shaft and/or modify the horn buttom to make it work, and I'm still not positive that you could do it and make the horn work.

Oh really? That's interesting...since that's what I originally intended to do when assembling my interior, until I found a tilt column. The best column I'd found was from a '71, but I was planning on putting on a '68 wheel. Do you have any more info on what changed between the two? I've got both styles at the shop, so I suppose I'd better do some much closer comparisons. Thanks for the heads-up on the possible snags.

[68F250]

The threaded shaft sticks out farther on the '71+ columns, don't know why but maybe you'll see by comparing the two. I'm trying to remember if there still will be a gap between the wheel and the column when you're done. Keith, time to go to the shop.

[FORDification]

heh...definitely! I believe I wiggled my way out of attending a family function on Sunday, so I'll be able to hide out there at the shop all day. I'll definitely take the camera and report back what I'm able to find out.

[shrektruck]

I just did this and the '70 three spoke is a pretty easy conversion. Just hack off the shaft coming up outta the nut with a cutoff wheel. Then take the nut off and dress it up a little (my dad taught me to always cut a bolt with the nut on it then take it off. It cleans up the threads on the way off.)
After hacking off the shaft the button works fine. I just took the three spoke off the Hayride ('70) and put it in the Shrektruck ('72 crew). I posted pics somewhere. I had to get a new retaining tab (the plastic piece that holds the horn ring on) cause I boogered up the old one.
Sorry, I'm ramblin here. I'll check with my neighbor, he's got a source that will recast his original wheel (48 Caddy). If I remember the price was pretty reasonable.

[DuckRyder]

That is correct the shaft sticks out past the nut on the later nuts.

I didn't want to cut on my steering shaft, so I cut a hole in the the horn ring and it clears. My horn contact is missing though so I haven't been able to see if I made enough clearance for the horn to work.

I think I'm going to put hte 72 wheel back now tha D-C has the wood grain horn bars.

[FORDification]

Had to pop into the shop for a few minutes after work this evening, so I grabbed the digital camera and took these shots:



You can clearly see that the '71-'72 shaft end would be too long to clear the '68-70 horn button. I'm going to have to post this pic to the power steering tutorial, just so others are aware.

[lobuck76]

I found your address

Hey, don't worry about the shipping. I think I can cover the couple bucks this thing will take to ship. Just PM me your mailing address and I'll get it in the mail to you within the next several days.