HORN BUTTON removal

It should be easy, done it many times with my Falcons. Push down, twist left (CCW) and the
horn button is in your hands...


My Horn Button is spinning.

I push down, twist, and with a lot of resistance, I can spin the Horn Button a full rotation!!!
Horn still works fine, button is still on tight, nothing weird- I just can't get it off...

If anyone has a picture of the backside of the Horn Button, so I can see what is spinning free, maybe
I can come up with a good solution (other than destroying the Horn Button in the process of removal.)

If anyone has any ideas on how to solve this, please suggest- no hurry though, it's not like I have a
leaking undersea oil well on my hands...

Thanks in advance,
George

metal must be spinning around the plastic assembly inside... that is how you remove the horn. Maybe make sure you have a firm squeeze on the perimeter of the buttonin an attempt to hold the horn mechanism past the locking tabs?

Hope that helps. (in lieu of an actual horn button pic at the moment)

Maybe it doesnt have the spring under it or a weak or different spring. Without a good spring it wont pop off. Try pulling up on it occasionally after pressing down and turning. You may get lucky if the slots are aligned right.

Hi Sasktrini,

Yes it seems that way, the Metal Button can be spun with a fit
of brute force. Kinda surprised I'm not breaking the plastic
fingers.

Hi EconoUSAparts,

Seems to be spring-loaded, the horn works, and the button returns
to position with no sticking. I tried pulling up, even squeezing the metal,
then pushing down again and turning- no luck yet.


So I am thinking the Horn Button backside is similar to the Falcons of
the same period? (3 plastic prongs spaced pretty evenly apart, that
engage into the potmetal steering wheel hub.) Oh and the slots in
the hub are narrow for almost a quarter turn, then they get wider
for clearance of the prongs???

I gave up after getting up a pretty good sweat, then I was leaning
against the bed, and an earthquake hit...

...I took it as a sign and stopped.

But I plan to continue! A pic of the button's backside might help me
come up with some kind of scheme to get the button removed.

George

Just went over to the garage and took a couple of piccies for you.... Mine has a horn ring on it, so it might be slightly different, but it used to have a normal horn button on it, so i know the wheel part is the same....





The mechansim is all metal, and requires a slight anti clockwise turn to disengage.... Not sure which bit might be broken on yours...

Regards
Sy

Thank You Sy!!!

That totally helps! Much different than the Falcons to which
I am accustomed. Trying to figure out what might be spinning
free on my set-up...

...I can turn my horn button a full revolution with a lot of effort.
(Whilst pushing down, or not)

George

Yeah, i'm not sure what is going on with yours. The 3 screws you can see on the back of the horn ring are actually fixing the metal plate to the horn button. These must still be intact on yours, as the horn would come apart without them. I wonder if the receiver plate is spinning round. I'm not sure what holds it in place, although there are 3 dots that could be spot welds or rivets or something on it. Maybe these have come loose.

If the horn works,the plate cant be spinning even if the welds are broke. The black plastic horn spring insulator(shown in the steering wheel picture) goes thru it preventing it from spinning.

Got the Horn Button off.

Having those pics helped me focus my efforts a little better. Basically
I gripped the Horn Button real good, then bounced down and twisted
at the same time, HARD, trying to shock it into motion. Each time the Button
returned to original position.

Then after about 2 dozen tries, the Button stayed down
Moreso on one side, so I knew the other two prong positions because
of it, and focused there, keeping pressed down whilst turning...

kept at it and finally...


removed the proper way (without damage.)



Thanks to you guys I kept on it, and was able to figure out what happened:

As mentioned, the black plastic liner inside the Stainless Horn Button was
slipping within the Stainless. I can see that the plastic was distorted a
bit and/or the Stainless was pulled back from the plastic, thereby losing
grip...


...further evidence that this is the slippage point, is the mismatch between
marks on the plastic and stainless. I think the arrow on the black plastic
is supposed to line up with the detent in the Stainless:




See how far the marks have clocked away from one-another, (Screw driver tip is
pointing to the detent in the Stainless.)

I'm figuring the marks need to line up so the "Econoline" script reads horizontally
when the steering wheel is driven straight ahead.

With the Button off, I can reposition my steering wheel (which was why I wanted the
Horn Button off, and maybe try and fix the flaws in the wheel. (another thread?))

Also have to find a fix for the Horn Button, maybe re-crimp
the edges of the stainless onto the black plastic (?)

I will need to fix the Button because I will want to remove the Horn Button
in the future (I might swap the column out for an automatic version I've
got...)

George

Wow, I got one right on the first guess!

Glad it worked.

Sasktrini,
That was a guess? I took it as solid fact and ran with it... ha ha ha.

Now I got to come up with a repair. You guys familar with Gorilla Glue?
Maybe something expandable like that would create enough interference/hold?

G

So, there I was this evening, sitting in my Econoline, in the garage making
motor noises when this fell into my lap:

It is 1/3 of the center of the Steering Wheel. Surprised at how much it
weighed...



"Hayyy, is it supposssed to do thaaat???"

Looks like I might do a thread on how to restore a steering wheel...

George

Wow! Listen, there is an excellent blog. the author passed away a couple months ago, but his last entry was a steering wheel restoration.

Ron Blachut's 1965 Ford Econoline Pickup Restoration

Hey Corey,

I looked at that Blog way before I even got my own 'conoline.
That is sad news that he passed away, it looked like he got
all the body painted... ...that's terrible news.

George