FJ40 Horn Issue (1 Viewer)

[cvan1971man]

Hoping someone may can add some insight into this.

The horn does not work unless you turn the steering wheel to the left. Any ideas on how to fix this? Does something need to be bent so that it makes contact?

 

[Living in the Past]

If these is on a pre 9/72 pull the center horn button, then the nut on the steering.shaft. pull the piece the center button snaps into. You see a pin coming up below that. Would remove that. Sand the end and stretch the spring a little. The way it works is when the horn button is pushed the piece the horn button snap into bends in and completes the ground for the horn relay. This is a common problem and see buttons added to the dash as an alternative. Not sure why it not a hard fix.

 

[cvan1971man]

Honestly i don't know which year the steering wheel is from. I bought it on ebay. It is an original FJ40 horn, but I don't know which year!

 

[Living in the Past]

Honestly i don't know which year the steering wheel is from. I bought it on ebay. It is an original FJ40 horn, but I don't know which year!

If your steering column is original and cruiser was made before 9/72 that is the steering horn button have. Steering wheel interchange between that date. Haven't had work on one of these in at least thirty years. May have to pull the steering wheel as well.

 

[73FJ40]

The 1971 in your hand!e is misleading. Your other posts indicate you have a 1973. Then you throw an unknown steering wheel into the mix.

Please buy a silver star and post some pictures, and include your build date.

 

[cvan1971man]

The 1971 in your hand!e is misleading. Your other posts indicate you have a 1973. Then you throw an unknown steering wheel into the mix.

Please buy a silver star and post some pictures, and include your build date.

Born in 1971

 

[73FJ40]

Born in 1971

You or your truck?

 

[cvan1971man]

You or your truck?

Me, got a '73 with a '76 engine, tranny and tcase

 

[73FJ40]

Okay, we're getting somewhere.

If you have the 1973 steering column and the steering wheel with the three horn switches in the spokes of the wheel, the steering shaft is connected to the steering box through a "rag" joint.

The rag joint should have a jumper wire and some contacts to transmit electricity from the steering shaft and into the ground of the steering box. (The steering box is bolted to the frame, so it's grounded.)

The horn beeps when the power supplied to the steering wheel is connected to ground through any one of the three switches. The ground path is from the switches down the steering shaft through the rag joint and into the steering box. If the ground path through the rag joint is only there on a left hand turn, it's likely there's corrosion, paint overspray or some other insulator interfering with the path.

 

[Shark56]

^ like said above, I actually had to make a jumper wire on the rag joint to get one of mine to work consistantly.


Edit to ad: an additional jumper wire.

 

[cvan1971man]

^ like said above, I actually had to make a jumper wire on the rag joint to get one of mine to work consistantly.


Edit to ad: an additional jumper wire.

We made a jumper. See pic. It still only works when turned all the way to the left.

 

[secretsquirrel]

Is it every button only functioning when the wheel is turned to the left?

 

[cvan1971man]

Yes, every button will make the horn sound when turned to the left. No sound when not turned to the left

 

[cvan1971man]

Is it every button only functioning when the wheel is turned to the left?

Did the jumper look good

 

[cvan1971man]

Is it every button only functioning when the wheel is turned to the left?

We have pulled the steering wheel off and cleaned the ring surface on the back of the steering wheel to make sure that it is free of corrosion and grime

We also made sure that the spring that presses against the metal wheel on the back of the steering wheel is good or

 

[73FJ40]

"If the ground path through the rag joint is only there on a left hand turn, it's likely there's corrosion, paint overspray or some other insulator interfering with the path."

Run a jumper wire from the negative battery terminal to a bright metal (no paint) location on the steering wheel shaft, just above the rag joint. This takes the ground path issue through the rag joint out of the equation.

If the horn works in all positions, the "ground path" is not fixed with your jumper.

 

[cvan1971man]

"If the ground path through the rag joint is only there on a left hand turn, it's likely there's corrosion, paint overspray or some other insulator interfering with the path."

Run a jumper wire from the negative battery terminal to a bright metal (no paint) location on the steering wheel shaft, just above the rag joint. This takes the ground path issue through the rag joint out of the equation.

If the horn works in all positions, the "ground path" is not fixed with your jumper.

There is clean contact points on the rag joint for the jumper

 

[Paul_A]

Only at full crank to the left? Any chance it is not grounding thru the steering box but thru the left side steering stop via all the steering linkage?

 

[cvan1971man]

Only at full crank to the left? Any chance it is not grounding thru the steering box but thru the left side steering stop via all the steering linkage?

Only at full crank to the left? Any chance it is not grounding thru the steering box but thru the left side steering stop via all the steering linkage?

The steering box is grounded well

 

[cvan1971man]

The steering box is grounded well

It isn't at full crank left the horn works when you get to resistance with the wheel