FJ62 Horn Repair (1 Viewer)

[pismo62]

So my horn has nonfunctional for a couple years. I decided to repair it and thought I'd share the fix.

1) Take off the horn cover. it will snap off with a tug.

2) Use a puller to remove the steering wheel. I used a cheap one from Harbor Freight.

Steering wheel Puller

• pismo62
• Jul 8, 2017

3) Pull off all the plastic around the steering column and get to the Horn contact pin.

Brass contact pin.

• pismo62
• Jul 8, 2017

In this shot all the plastic is still on the column. After it's off you can axcess the pin. You will need to take apart the turn signal, lights part off the column. Not very tough.

Brass contact plate

• pismo62
• Jul 8, 2017

Here is the back of the steering wheel were the pin needs to contact.

4) You can either find a new pin, have one made by a machine shop or add a big glob of solder it to the pin. I added solder and put a little grease on electrical grease on it.

5) Put everything back together. It's easiest if you mark where the steering wheel should be before you take it apart. I didn't and it took a few times to line it up correctly. The contact of the pin to the plate on the steering wheel will squeak for about a week.

It's pretty exciting to have a horn when it's been gone for a while.

 

[mobydick]

You can always use a spent 22 brass to put over the entire pin. Just be sure it's a spent brass. The only one I could find when I did my "fix" was not, just pulled the bullet out and dumped the powder. Tried using a screwdriver to hit it and blow the rimfire primer but after several attempts with no success I gave up and stuck it on there anyhow. After a month of driving it around w/o incident this morning it is over 100* and the primer finally went off. Now horn no worky again! Tomorrows project.

 

[srogers]

Quick follow up to the original post - just did this for my wife's 1990 FJ62; snapped a few pics for the sake of posterity...

The horn worked ONCE when I was troubleshooting, so I was pretty certain it was just the horn pin being worn. My suspicion's were right...took all of an hour to pull the steering wheel off, take apart the column, and swap out the pin.

Toyota Part # Horn Pin

• srogers
• Jan 29, 2018

1990 FJ62 Steering Column

• srogers
• Jan 29, 2018

1990 FJ62 Horn Pin very worn!

• srogers
• Jan 29, 2018

That's a lot of honking!

Worked like a champ!

 

[Seth S]

Trick I learned a long time ago for getting the steering wheel off without a puller. Had a boss at a Saab repair shop I worked at and he always said "hit it like your girlfriend does when she is mad at you"...meaning....take the retaining bolt off and alternate slapping the outer hoop of the steering wheel at the 3 and 9 positions with your hands. It worked great on every Saab wheel I ever had to pull and the steering column looks like the same spline setup on the cruiser.

And thanks for the write up. I just ordered a pin for my horn is not working either....I am 99.999% sure its the pin as it did beep once while I was holding the buttons and turning the wheel.

I found the Toyota pin in toyota package on Ebay for $6.26 shipped

 

[JHE4601]

For a much easier fix you can also take off the steering wheel and if you don't want to buy a puller keep on the main nut, put your hands at 3 and 9 and sit back and wiggle back and forth gently. That will usually free it off the spindle. Then you'll see that brass pin which you can then clean off with some sandpaper. Just to clean off any light debris. After this you'll want to have a soldering gun ready with solder. With the soldering tip hot put a tiny dab onto the tip of the brass tab. This will make the connection true again in most cases. Just a dab though and keep that dab smooth. I put dielectric grease on the inside of the wheel as well which will keep the life of the solder to last a bit longer. Then Vualla!!! A great fix that will last a many years and then you'll have to do it again.Haha But its less work then taking off the column. Takes about 10-15 minutes total from removing wheel to assembly again.

 

[JHE4601]

So my horn has nonfunctional for a couple years. I decided to repair it and thought I'd share the fix.

1) Take off the horn cover. it will snap off with a tug.

2) Use a puller to remove the steering wheel. I used a cheap one from Harbor Freight.

Steering wheel Puller

• pismo62
• Jul 8, 2017

3) Pull off all the plastic around the steering column and get to the Horn contact pin.

Brass contact pin.

• pismo62
• Jul 8, 2017

In this shot all the plastic is still on the column. After it's off you can axcess the pin. You will need to take apart the turn signal, lights part off the column. Not very tough.

Brass contact plate

• pismo62
• Jul 8, 2017

Here is the back of the steering wheel were the pin needs to contact.

4) You can either find a new pin, have one made by a machine shop or add a big glob of solder it to the pin. I added solder and put a little grease on electrical grease on it.

5) Put everything back together. It's easiest if you mark where the steering wheel should be before you take it apart. I didn't and it took a few times to line it up correctly. The contact of the pin to the plate on the steering wheel will squeak for about a week.

It's pretty exciting to have a horn when it's been gone for a while.

I saw this too late. Just thought I would add mine in as well.

 

[Seth S]

For a much easier fix you can also take off the steering wheel and if you don't want to buy a puller keep on the main nut, put your hands at 3 and 9 and sit back and wiggle back and forth gently. That will usually free it off the spindle. Then you'll see that brass pin which you can then clean off with some sandpaper. Just to clean off any light debris. After this you'll want to have a soldering gun ready with solder. With the soldering tip hot put a tiny dab onto the tip of the brass tab. This will make the connection true again in most cases. Just a dab though and keep that dab smooth. I put dielectric grease on the inside of the wheel as well which will keep the life of the solder to last a bit longer. Then Vualla!!! A great fix that will last a many years and then you'll have to do it again.Haha But its less work then taking off the column. Takes about 10-15 minutes total from removing wheel to assembly again.

I see we both employ the 3/9 method

 

[emac]

Great thread, I did the .22 casing trick and it helped but the horn wouldnt work all the time. Replaced the pin and contact ring. Works perfect, mine were very worn out. A small curved needle nose plier was very helpful getting the circlip off. I removed the steering wheel and the plastic covers. 30 minutes and it is fixed right.

 

[EscapeWagon62]

Put a white pillow cloth down on the floormat when you remove or install the circlip.
Rumor has it you might lose the old and new circlip while doing the swap. A pillow case might help you find one of them. Not saying that it happened to me
When buying the replacement brass pin, buy two. You know you’ll need another one sometime down the road.

 

[emac]

+1. I put a small magnet near the pin just in case I dropped the clip. Just in case it isnt obvious, you need to push the pin in all the way to get good access to the clip.

 

[ro11dice]

Put a white pillow cloth down on the floormat when you remove or install the circlip.
Rumor has it you might lose the old and new circlip while doing the swap. A pillow case might help you find one of them. Not saying that it happened to me
When buying the replacement brass pin, buy two. You know you’ll need another one sometime down the road.

Despite the white cloth, I must've dropped the circlip 4x and it never landed on the cloth. Each time it dropped I thought it was a goner for sure. But I luckily I found it every time. My issue were my eyes couldn't focus because my head was so close to the pin/circlip. When I thought the circlip was seated enough to push in, it wasn't and went flying. I was contemplating a spent .22 but it was late and living in the suburbs, I couldn't fire a round off...legally.

Appreciated this thread. I tackled this last night and it's a very similar process on my FJ60. I think the only difference is the steering wheel.

 

[Cbad Cruiser]

Great $5 fix. Horn works great now!

 

[Spook50]

To add to this: lubricate the contact ring on the backside of the steering wheel with a conductive lubricant. After 32 years I decided to change my pin out, assuming it was worn down to nearly nothing, and here's the comparison to the new pin. Yes that was the factory original pin too.

 

[Ironclad]

I just performed this replacement on my 1990 FJ62. It was fairly straightforward thanks to all the great MUD members who described this fix in detail in a few different threads.

Here’s what I did in sequence for those who are just skimming this for the first time or are total noobs like me.

1. Disconnected negative terminal to battery.
2. Popped off the horn pad by pulling at the edges fairly firmly.
3. Removed the 19mm wheel nut.
4. Marked the position of the wheel in relation to the threaded shaft with a sharpie.
5. Loosely re-tightened the nut to protect myself if the wheel popped off quickly.
6. Began the wobble/pound/wobble procedure until the wheel came free. Then removed nut and wheel.
7. Removed the top half of the plastic cover for the steering column by removing screws from the bottom of the column.
8. Lowered the steering column as far down as it would go (probably should have done that earlier).
9. Pushed horn contact pin as far as it would go with my left hand to gain access to the circlip.
10. Removed the circlip with needle nose pliers while keeping the pin pressed in.
11. Removed the old worn horn contact pin and spring.
12. Inserted the new contact pin and spring, ensured a snug connection with the electrical wire, then added the new circlip with needle nose pliers.
13. Reversed the process to reassemble but lubricated the horn contact ring on the backside of the wheel with dielectric grease.
14. Reconnected the battery.
15. HONK, well, more like a beep.

Here are a few pics to supplement what has already been shared by others. Please disregard the hole in my shoe. I’ve been putting money into my LC rather than my footwear.

 

[simmba]

Awesome write up @Ironclad. Worked perfect!

 

[Ironclad]

Awesome write up @Ironclad. Worked perfect!

Good stuff, glad I was able to help you like others here helped me with the same project.

Nice hearing that beep again!

 

[KansasFJ62]

This thread is very helpful. My horn on my 89 FJ62 works but it's so faint you can barely hear it. If I'm driving, it's so hard to hear. I wonder if that's because the PIN is worn? At first, I was thinking the problem is the actual horn but now it sounds like maybe the PIN.

 

[atlshaun]

Not to resurrect an old thread....but my horn is malfunctioning

When connected, it will intermittently "honk" without being purposefully compressed. When I take the cover off and watch it happen there are visible sparks where the two orange wires connect.

 

[nathanbsmith]

1988 FJ62

My horn works but it doesn’t sound good. I though I needed to replace the horn but now I’m thinking it might be the pin.

Would a bad pin produce a tin-like, thin horn sound?

Has anyone ever swapped out the horn before with an aftermarket horn?

 

[emac]

Cant recall the 62 horn, but many of them have an adjuster screw on the horn to tune them. Easy enough to test it.