The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Help on horn bushing

My 37 1/2 ton had been out in the weather for years. Horn bushing was completely gone. How far down on the shaft should that be? Also is the shaft used to complete the circuit? The shaft is quite rusty and don't want to sand to much so bushing is not tight. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks Bill

Bill,
I assume you are talking about the mast bearing. If you are staying with the stock arrangement, the mast bearing needs to be at the depth of the wire prong that extends from beneath the horn button.The button is held by a rubber cushion, so the mast bearing needs to be at a level that the prong touches it, but only when the button is pushed. And yes, the steering shaft is part of the electrical ground path for the horn.

Kent

https://www.fillingstation.com/articles/steeringmastjacketbushing.htm

You don't really have to worry about the part of the mast jacket that receives the bushing. I don't think that is the path for the ground.
As far as how deep, if nothing left to measure before removing old bushing, maybe there will be "shadow marks" of where it was. Of course you can figure it out once you see what the plunger/contact and cap and cups need to make contact. The idea is for the spring loaded plunger/contact to be pushed down by a disc or cup to make the plunger/contact touch the metal copper ring on top of the mask jacket bushing and at the some time the disc/cup touches the inside of steering wheel hub. This completes the ground into the shaft threads/spline..... to the body/chassis. The plunger/contact can touch anywhere on the top of the bushing depending on where the steering wheel rotation position.

https://www.chevsofthe40s.com/detail/9347/Bushing_Under_Steering_Wheel_With_Horn_Wire.html

http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/shop/1938/38csm211.html

Thanks Kent and Bartamos for your reply. Both answers are very helpful. Will assemble all of it with shaft cover removed and should be able to see what goes on and if working properly. I do not have my cab on the frame yet so should be easy. Bill

Bill, I recently pulled the steering box out of my 41 to rebuild, only to find out the box is from a 37-40 (from the helpful people on this site). I measured the distance from the top of the bushing to the end of the mast and see it is 1-7/8". Don't know if that helps you.
In getting my 41 back on the road, I've found it is a collection of parts from other model years: 55-59 front and rear axles, etc. I love it, but keep that in mind with the measurement I just provided.