Horn contact roller replacement?

Wiring, lights, heater controls, anything electrical..
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Jaspet
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Horn contact roller replacement?

Post by Jaspet »

**Edit 3/9/14 - I found this part on ebay, thanks to a fellow forum member who pointed it out to me, and I found the horn switch replacement as well (the horn switch is identical with those that fit '60-'66 non-tilt 'cuda, dart, etc. steering wheels with horn rings). Below is the process I followed to get my horn up and working again, including taking it apart and putting it all back together: (see a few posts down, where I'll start to post pics and text). I know this is simple for a lot of you, and it wasn't bad for me, but I remember a few years back when this type of post helped me with this and that on my truck before I knew how to do much at all, so here I'll try to give some back...

- Jared

So I've got a white steering wheel with horn ring on my '68 D100. Horn stopped working, pulled the steering wheel and the horn contact roller needs replaced (the roller stopped rolling at some point and flattened on two planes to a point, and the plastic base the spring-loaded assembly sits in is cracked and broken)... :pale

Does anyone know of a source selling these? Been searching online for days and to no avail. I'll post in the parts wanted section also...

Thanks guys!
Last edited by Jaspet on Mon Mar 10, 2014 11:08 am, edited 4 times in total.
- 1966 D200 Camper Special 318 V8 poly
- 1968 D100 Adventurer 318 V8 LA

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dodgeboykim
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Re: Horn contact roller replacement?

Post by dodgeboykim »

response in wanted section.

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Re: Horn contact roller replacement?

Post by Jaspet »

Found it, thank you! (meaning I found your response to my parts wanted thread - not a source for this part) I'll keep holding out hope...
Last edited by Jaspet on Mon Mar 03, 2014 10:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- 1966 D200 Camper Special 318 V8 poly
- 1968 D100 Adventurer 318 V8 LA

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Re: Horn contact roller replacement?

Post by dodgeboykim »

:Thumbsup

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Re: Horn contact roller replacement?

Post by Jaspet »

On the white steering wheel with horn ring, whether the horn "button" (just a cover on the white wheels with horn ring) is present or not, the outermost ring that holds the Dodge insignia "button" is held to the horn ring via a star-shaped retainer.

1. Just twist the ring that holds the "button" counter-clockwise and the tangs of the star retainer will slip out of their spots in the horn ring. The star retainer should be attached to the base of this upper ring. Mine came off, due to the cylindrical tangs that hold it in place being old and worn. I drilled and tapped holes where the metal, cylindrical tangs (they are kind of like a rivet, but are part of the upper/outermost ring) - are supposed to extend toward the horn ring to hold the star retainer to the bottom of the upper chrome ring. I attached the star retainer to the upper ring thanks to the newly drilled and tapped holes with 1/2" #6 fine-thread machine screws. If I ever get a good camera I'll take pics of all the details - I can't take close-up pics with my camera phone.

Here's what it looks like once I got the upper ring that holds the horn "button" (i.e. horn cover) :
Attachments
01 horn cover off.jpg
Last edited by Jaspet on Mon Mar 10, 2014 11:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
- 1966 D200 Camper Special 318 V8 poly
- 1968 D100 Adventurer 318 V8 LA

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Re: Horn contact roller replacement?

Post by Jaspet »

2. At this point, with that wire staring me in the face, I remembered I was working on electrical components in my D100 so I disconnected the negative terminal at the battery!

2b. The steering wheel was in the orientation I wanted on the steering column shaft splines, so I marked the location on the wheel and the column for re-install later.

3. Three small screws holding the horn ring and circular horn switch to the steering wheel base go through plastic washer/retainers/(bushings?) that look exactly like this: - don't lose the plastic retainers or the screws! As a set they sell for about $20 on eBay. I carefully removed these, freeing up the horn ring and horn switch.
Attachments
02 horn contact screws.jpg
02 horn contact screws.jpg (5.44 KiB) Viewed 3437 times
Last edited by Jaspet on Mon Mar 10, 2014 11:21 am, edited 2 times in total.
- 1966 D200 Camper Special 318 V8 poly
- 1968 D100 Adventurer 318 V8 LA

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Re: Horn contact roller replacement?

Post by Jaspet »

4. Removed the horn ring, set it aside.

5. The short black wire connecting the circular horn switch to the base of the steering wheel via spade connectors came off next, and the horn switch came out.
05 horn switch.jpg
05 horn switch.jpg (5.49 KiB) Viewed 3437 times
With (in order) the horn button ring, the horn ring and switch screws and their plastic bushings (3 pairs), horn ring, connecting wire, horn switch all removed I was left with the metal plate on which the horn switch sits:
Attachments
02 horn ring, switch, wire off.jpg
Last edited by Jaspet on Mon Mar 10, 2014 1:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
- 1966 D200 Camper Special 318 V8 poly
- 1968 D100 Adventurer 318 V8 LA

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Re: Horn contact roller replacement?

Post by Jaspet »

6. Next the column nut and washer come off...
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03 column nut and washer off.jpg
- 1966 D200 Camper Special 318 V8 poly
- 1968 D100 Adventurer 318 V8 LA

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Re: Horn contact roller replacement?

Post by Jaspet »

7. And the steering wheel puller (thanks to my brother for letting me borrow it) comes out to do its job. I've seen some posts where people put the base of the center bolt against the steering column shaft, but really you want the head of the center bolt against the steering shaft for its greater surface area. Then finger-tighten the side bolts into the threads to each side of the column shaft. Once you're there and the center bolt is resting securely against the column shaft, wrench each side bolt into the column by 1/4-turn each, alternating until the steering wheel pops off.
Attachments
04 steering wheel puller almost in action.jpg
Last edited by Jaspet on Mon Mar 10, 2014 11:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
- 1966 D200 Camper Special 318 V8 poly
- 1968 D100 Adventurer 318 V8 LA

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Re: Horn contact roller replacement?

Post by Jaspet »

8. Once the steering wheel is off, make sure you set aside the spring around the shaft the steering wheel sits on (it's sticking up a little from the turn signal/horn roller assembly). Here's what you'll see once the steering wheel is free (I snapped this pic after removing the spring below the steering wheel, and the turn signal lever):
05 steering wheel removed.jpg
9. That philips head screw southeast of the shaft is the only thing holding the turn signal/contact roller assembly in place. Loosen but don't remove it completely to remove the assembly from the column. You'll of course have to feed the column wiring harness up from below and into the cradle/cup that holds the steering wheel base and turn signal assembly to pull it out.

10. Old horn contact roller comes off with a small philips head screw at the top of its white plastic base (northeast of the column shaft when the assembly is installed).

11. Figured out where to cut the black wire from the roller as per the length of the wire on my replacement contact roller, and removed the old, broken contact roller, including the pre-installed rubber grommet (inverted cone shape) that extends through the metal plate of the turn signal assembly southeast of the column shaft.

12. Installed new contact roller onto the plate of the turn signal assembly where the old one came off, pre-set shrink tubing on both the new wire from the new part and the old wire extending down through the column.

13. Spliced the old and new wires together with a crimp barrel connector, then tugged to make sure the crimps were good.

14. Before I shrunk the heat-shrink tubing around the connections at the barrel connector (sorry no pics), I checked for continuity between the roller and the connector of that black wire under the dash. All was well, so I put some flame to that shrink tubing to reinforce the connections.

14b. Greased up the column bearings while I had it open (which are visible just below the turn signal assembly), and lubed the roller contact with white lithium grease.
Last edited by Jaspet on Mon Mar 10, 2014 11:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
- 1966 D200 Camper Special 318 V8 poly
- 1968 D100 Adventurer 318 V8 LA

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Re: Horn contact roller replacement?

Post by Jaspet »

15. Reassembled in the reverse order: turn signal/contact roller assembly first (make sure the beveled, threaded metal wedge under the assembly is facing the right direction before you re-install - the one the single philips-head screw that the assembly to the column is threaded into). If you had removed that philips head screw completely and its female threaded counterpart fell into the column cup, retrieve the female-threaded wedge piece from the column cup and reinstall so you can secure the assembly to the column.

16. Continue reassembling: steering wheel spring, steering wheel (make sure you have the orientation you want - if you marked the wheel and column prior to removal, check your marks before re-installing the wheel on the splines of the shaft), column washer and nut. My wheel calls for 24 ft.-lbs. on the column nut ('68 D100).

17. Before going further, dielectric grease on the connection in the base of the steering wheel (male spade connector), and slip the proper end of that short connecting wire back on.

18. Installed new circular horn switch, greased (dielectric) its male spade connector and connected the other end of the connecting wire. Then installed the horn ring and the retaining screws and their plastic bushings through the 3 holes in the horn ring and horn switch. And then we were back to here!
Attachments
01 horn cover off.jpg
- 1966 D200 Camper Special 318 V8 poly
- 1968 D100 Adventurer 318 V8 LA

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Re: Horn contact roller replacement?

Post by Jaspet »

19. Last, re-installed the horn button ring and button, re-attached the negative battery terminal and started freaking out the neighbors with my once again operational go-cart sounding horn! :Thumbsup
- 1966 D200 Camper Special 318 V8 poly
- 1968 D100 Adventurer 318 V8 LA

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Re: Horn contact roller replacement?

Post by wally426ci »

Nice work man! Good post. :Thumbsup

To anyone missing the plastic spacer/screws for your horn ring, Chrysler used the same ones basically from the 50's through late 60's. Yank them anytime you see a car with a horn ring at the junkyard. :Thumbsup

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Re: Horn contact roller replacement?

Post by Txas2step »

Good post. Nice looking heavy duty gauges peaking out in pictures. :Thumbsup
61 shorty 170/ 3spd 3:91(sold)
66 lwb 318 poly/727/4:10 (sold)
67 shorty 318poly/4spd 3:55
68 ute 318/3 spd/3:55(sold)
70 318/727/3:23
66 d200 225/4spd/4:10( military)(sold)
68 d100 383/727/3:55

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Re: Horn contact roller replacement?

Post by Jaspet »

Thanks guys. Small job or big job, I admit I love working on this truck. Lucky for me I have a big brother who got me into Mopars years ago! :clap
- 1966 D200 Camper Special 318 V8 poly
- 1968 D100 Adventurer 318 V8 LA

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Re: Horn contact roller replacement?

Post by swept360 »

hi great thread i will be using if i need to do this as i have no factory manual :lol:
my horn contact roller works but has a crack thru and i have no Drivers blinker or dash lights.
would a faulty horn contact affect blinker? bulbs, fuses and wire as i can see are fine.
thanks
swept 360
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68 D100, 360, 727, 8 3/4 3.91.
68 D100, 318,

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Re: Horn contact roller replacement?

Post by Hobcobble »

swept360 wrote:hi great thread i will be using if i need to do this as i have no factory manual :lol:
my horn contact roller works but has a crack thru and i have no Drivers blinker or dash lights.
would a faulty horn contact affect blinker? bulbs, fuses and wire as i can see are fine.
thanks
swept 360
68 white wheel
A worn out turn signal switch assembly can give you directional
and brake light problems. Bad grounds can do the same thing.
My suggestion would be to check and verify all grounds as being
good first. :2cents Check your flasher as well...
John

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Re: Horn contact roller replacement?

Post by swept360 »

Hobcobble wrote:
A worn out turn signal switch assembly can give you directional
and brake light problems. Bad grounds can do the same thing.
My suggestion would be to check and verify all grounds as being
good first. :2cents Check your flasher as well...
John
thanks for the :2cents john.
grounds have been cleaned up first thing
flasher is good.
i was told it could be turn signal switch, is that located behind the horn contact roller?
68 D100, 360, 727, 8 3/4 3.91.
68 D100, 318,

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Re: Horn contact roller replacement?

Post by Jaspet »

John and/or someone else will have more experience and probably better ideas than mine because I'm not the most experienced here, but I'll throw my thoughts into the mix... A ground issue makes sense since you are experiencing multiple things not working... I haven't checked the wiring diagram to see what shares what circuits...

In no particular order, as things pop into my head: Grab a handy test light and check for juice where you're lacking (dash lights, turn signals, etc.) and work backwards on that wire - this'll help you narrow down where your problem is... if/when you have stuff open. First of firsts though: Have you checked your fuses? Dash lights out could be the gauge illumination bulbs, too! I had a few of them burned out when I bought my truck 5+ years ago. If I remember right, you can quarter-turn the illumination bulbs from behind the cluster without pulling the gauge cluster from the dash... someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Visual inspection'll tell you if any bulbs are bad. If you need/want to, it takes a minute to pull the cluster, but it's not bad once you've pulled your gauge cluster once. (Speedometer cable unscrews behind the speedometer, etc.) You may already know this and I may be preaching to the choir...

As for the horn contact roller, once you pull your steering wheel, you'll see the turn signal switch assembly staring you in the face. It may be happy, it may be sad, but it'll be staring at you, wrapped around the center steering column shaft where the turn signal lever enters the cup at the left top of the column (by top I mean closer to where you sit and the steering wheel is - or was before you pulled it :Thumbsup , as opposed to the base of the column which is attached to the floor of the cab). If you have the same steering wheel/column setup as my '68 D100 (white 2-spoked steering wheel with horn ring), with the steering wheel pulled, at about 1:30 (if you look at what's in front of you as a clock), the horn contact roller is attached to the turn signal assembly by a single, small phillips-head screw. The larger phillips-head screw at about 4:30 - loosen that (don't need to take it out completely) and the beveled clamp that is underneath the turn signal assembly will let go and you can (while providing enough slack by feeding the steering column wiring harness up towards you from the base of the steering column) pull the entire turn signal assembly, wires attached (granted you have already removed the turn signal lever) up and free of the steering column shaft to inspect the wires, connections, etc. You may have broken plastic parts, which would affect the self-canceling, as well...

You can visually inspect the various colored wires coming up to the turn signal assembly through the steering column harness - if any wires are broken well, broken's broken. If all looks well, whether you have your truck's wiring diagram or not (they are available on this forum, sorry I don't have a link offhand), you can trace each color as it exits out the base of the steering column and makes a connection under the dash. You could check for continuity from the termination points on the turn signal assembly to the connection that same wire makes under the dash (and cross-check the other colors against the others as well to check for shorts) to see if there are any broken wires you couldn't see with your eyeballs...

Again, check this with the forum, as far as how to best tackle your problem, and in what order... I sometimes figure stuff out, but not always in the most efficient manner! Others will probably have shortcuts/better ideas on here :Thumbsup Good luck!
- 1966 D200 Camper Special 318 V8 poly
- 1968 D100 Adventurer 318 V8 LA

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Re: Horn contact roller replacement?

Post by Hobcobble »

swept360 wrote:is that located behind the horn contact roller?
Look at the 7th picture in this thread. You'll see that the contact wheel
is part of the turn signal switch assembly. :2cents :Thumbsup
John

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