I am trying to get the horn straightened out on my new-to-me 1946 2 ton. The horn is in place, the wiring in the engine bay is there but I am having trouble with the horn button. I ordered a mast bearing from Chevs of 40s but it will not even go into the steering column. I see The filling Station has a mast bearing for earlier models (1940) that appear smaller but I cannot tell for sure from the photos on their site. I plan to call them later today since we are on opposite coasts. If anyone has some insight on this, I am listening. PS: I have installed a relay for the horn.[img]http://https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipPcVArVfvaslmEvdiSWnXjKtTLjIlNwmloC7Hje[/img]
I recently did my 46 horn/ mast bearing, it was very very tight going in, I had to use a piece of wood & mallet to get it seated, here is a pic of it installed, had to ream out the mast with curved file to be certain it was full ID.
My install was complicated as whoever “restored” it had put a older steering box & steering wheel. the mast had to be shortened by 1” for all the horn parts to function correctly, ( I had changed the steering box last year and was taking on installing the new brown steering wheel & horn button/ring/ anti rattle gasket᠁.)
Btw, my new mast bearing has play, may try and replace it yet again? Chuck
Hank, Thanks for the response and photo. I am trying to attach a photo too but this is my first time posting. Anyway, it looks like yours went in and needed some extra persuasion to get the rubber into the column. I cannot even get the brass tube section of the mast bearing to go into the column. Something is not right.
If your column isn’t freshly painted᠁. Can you apply heat to it ᠁ and seat the bearing after it has been in the freezer ? (Assuming you need to find the correct bearing yet)
Problem solved. Part of the old mast bearing is still lodged in the steering column but I did not know that. Big thanks to Robert Young on the Chevy Pickup FB page for helping me to see that.
Resurrected this post to keep the info in one spot
My 1946 horn worked fine for a few years (see 2022 post above) then started honking when turning, not great…
So I set up a parallel horn button and put a connector on the steering column wire so I could disconnect at will while I went about sorting this out over the course of a few weeks. I put the steering wheel/horn together/apart no less than 10 times sorting it all out.
First thing was the horn wire on side of the mast bearing chafing on the steering tube, my solution was stuff a rag in the tube and grind/file a notch in the very bottom (out of sight) to relieve the tension on that part of the wire/connection. (See photo), this worked great.
Second was to reset/push down the outer tube bottoming it on the steering box, this increased the horn button travel by 1/8”.
Third was the mast bearing itself, when installed and fully seated the steering shaft still had a lot of movement in the tube, so much so that I could push the steering wheel up/sideways and make the horn blare. I tried another mast bearing from a different supplier but same issue. The assembly’s were tight in the top of the tube but unsupported where the bearing itself was. My solution was to wrap the lower half of the outside of the rubber with electrical tape, I set and removed it a few times until it fit very tight going in but would still fully seat. This compression on the exterior of the mast bearing holder removed all side play between the shaft and the tube, shaft still rotated freely (with front wheels lifted). We’ll see how long this lasts, but seems a lot more stable than it has ever been. Last thing was to put a nut on the actual horn button threads to raise the button so it sits flush to slightly proud of the steering wheel..
I had considered finding a quality bearing to fit into the mast bearing assembly but after some thought…..nah
