Just fixed the horn on my '94, thought I'd share the details.
If you have a 95-on cruiser, this fix isn't for you.
If you have a 90-94 and the horn pad doesn't work reliably but you can sound the horn by shoving a paperclip into the horn relay contacts, this may be your fix.
Before there were airbags, there weren't clock springs.
Instead there is a brass contact ring on the back of the steering wheel and a brass plunger in the steering column that rides on that ring and provides ground for the horn.
Probably someone should have taken my steering wheel off 10 years ago and cleaned and greased the track.
To get the wheel off:
1: Using an m8 socket, remove the screw in the middle spoke of the steering wheel (from behind) to release the horn pad.
2: Lifting from the bottom, remove the horn pad and disconnect the wire that is connected to the pad button.
3: With an M18 socket and extension, remove the steering wheel retaining nut.
4: You may or may not need a steering wheel puller. I was able to just yank it off of the column. AutoZone will loan you a puller for about a $20 deposit. One way or another, remove the wheel from the column.
Here's what you find when you get there:
That's the plunger in the upper left hand. Worn down to a nub.
5: Put a piece of metal across the plunger and the stud in the middle of the column. If the horn sounds, this is your fix.
6: Clean the contact ring on the wheel and the plunger. Get off all those brass flakes and old crud.
7: Apply silicone dielectric grease to the contact ring and the plunger's head.
8: Give the plunger a small metal hat.
Some people use a spent 0.22 calibre casing, trimmed down a bit so it isn't too long.
An all-metal clicker from a pen or mechanical pencil may work.
I used the end of a glass fuse. You just have to heat it up to get the glue to fail so you can pull it off of the glass tube, then jam a screwdriver head or something inside the cap to shine up the blob of solder inside, then just place it over the (silicone greased) plunger.
Looks like this:
9: Reassemble. Note the three brown nubs sticking out of the ring around the column. You will use the top one as a guide to aligning the wheel when you put it back over the spindle. You will need a flashlight to see it through the hole in the steering wheel.
10: Test! You will not be able to reliably test your fix until the steering wheel is completely reassembled and the screw on the back holding the horn pad securely in place has been torqued down, as this provides the ground path for the horn pad.
If you have a 95-on cruiser, this fix isn't for you.
If you have a 90-94 and the horn pad doesn't work reliably but you can sound the horn by shoving a paperclip into the horn relay contacts, this may be your fix.
Before there were airbags, there weren't clock springs.
Instead there is a brass contact ring on the back of the steering wheel and a brass plunger in the steering column that rides on that ring and provides ground for the horn.
Probably someone should have taken my steering wheel off 10 years ago and cleaned and greased the track.
To get the wheel off:
1: Using an m8 socket, remove the screw in the middle spoke of the steering wheel (from behind) to release the horn pad.
2: Lifting from the bottom, remove the horn pad and disconnect the wire that is connected to the pad button.
3: With an M18 socket and extension, remove the steering wheel retaining nut.
4: You may or may not need a steering wheel puller. I was able to just yank it off of the column. AutoZone will loan you a puller for about a $20 deposit. One way or another, remove the wheel from the column.
Here's what you find when you get there:
That's the plunger in the upper left hand. Worn down to a nub.
5: Put a piece of metal across the plunger and the stud in the middle of the column. If the horn sounds, this is your fix.
6: Clean the contact ring on the wheel and the plunger. Get off all those brass flakes and old crud.
7: Apply silicone dielectric grease to the contact ring and the plunger's head.
8: Give the plunger a small metal hat.
Some people use a spent 0.22 calibre casing, trimmed down a bit so it isn't too long.
An all-metal clicker from a pen or mechanical pencil may work.
I used the end of a glass fuse. You just have to heat it up to get the glue to fail so you can pull it off of the glass tube, then jam a screwdriver head or something inside the cap to shine up the blob of solder inside, then just place it over the (silicone greased) plunger.
Looks like this:
9: Reassemble. Note the three brown nubs sticking out of the ring around the column. You will use the top one as a guide to aligning the wheel when you put it back over the spindle. You will need a flashlight to see it through the hole in the steering wheel.
10: Test! You will not be able to reliably test your fix until the steering wheel is completely reassembled and the screw on the back holding the horn pad securely in place has been torqued down, as this provides the ground path for the horn pad.
