The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Horn Wire from the steering wheel .. what am I missing?

An old thread, but a new problem. I'm missing something here. Have a 46 Chevy. Problem is the horn wire from the steering wheel.
Horn when I bot it was activated by a button strapped on the outside of the steering mast. toss that.
Has a wire coming out of bottom of the steering mast, already cut off and not connected to anything.
I understand the circuitry grounding and all.
I got the horn button assembly, spring etc, and steering wheel off
Was a bell shaped spacer between the steering wheel and the steering mast, got that off.
Bearing was there, spline shaft, no horn wire.
So I guess the horn wire is attached to the back of that bearing.
What I don't understand is how pushing the horn button grounds anything. Seems to me that the bearing (to which I think the wire is attached), thru the steering shaft, thru the steering gear is already grounded. So it looks to me like the wire (and bearing) is grounded all the time, which can't be.
What am I missing?

The bearing is insulated from the mast and the steering shaft. The steering wheel should have a plunger that rides on the bearing (that’s connected to the horn wire. When you mash the horn button it makes contact with the plunger and provides a ground path through the steering shaft.

I may not familiar with '46 horn parts. I expect them to be similar to '47.2 through '55.1.
Can you attach pictures of all of your horn parts?

Not the same as 47-55.1. Chevs of the 40s has some parts, but I'm not familiar with the parts to know what you might need.

The Art Deco period trucks may not be the same as the 47-54 that I described, but the principle should be the same. The horn wire should be insulated from any ground until the horn button is pushed.

that wire that is coming out the bottom get you meter out and see if you have connectivity from the outer top of bearing under steering wheel to that wire.
if not the wire is loose and you need to pull the bearing and reattach. You should not have connectivity on that wire to ground without the button pressed.

check for connectivity from the outer top of the bearing to ground or clean part of steering shaft outside cover there should be none and none to the steering shaft itself.
if you do the insulation is bad on the bearing

Great. Heigh-Ho, and off to work I go. Report later.
Thanx.

It appears that the previous HA restorer got a new horn button assembly and it didn't quite fit right. Basically stuck grounded when you pushed it. Evidently they didn't know how to tweak it so it would work. So to have a horn they put a button on the side of the steering shaft. Once disassembled, some judicious filing got it working fine. And the ground wire down the steering shaft seems good. So I now have a good working horn in the center of the steering wheel where it should be.

Thanks for the enlightenment.

I had issues with my 54, the steering wheel was one of those very expensive ones but after a while when you turned a corner it beeped. worked and worked on it but finally put a button under the dash, I wish I had put it on the steering column. Thought many times to move it.

If you saw the movie "Little miss sunshine" you could fit right in there. Driving along with an occasional honk. But not appreciated when pulled over by a cop.