help! horn slip ring

[jwateland]

does anyone know of a how- to on taking the steering wheel apart or how- to install a newhorn slip ring?

[rustyballs_69]

Buy a haynes manual. I did it a little over a year or so ago. The manual will tell you pretty much everything you need. Before you go taking anything apart in the steering column make sure you disconnect the air bag in the fuse box on the driver side.

[Midgear]

isnt the horn switch integrated into the air bag itself? am I even thinking of the same piece / part? lol

[rustyballs_69]

Originally Posted by Midgear

isnt the horn switch integrated into the air bag itself? am I even thinking of the same piece / part? lol

I think your thinking of something else. The multi-function switch has a pin that sticks out and pushes up against the horn contact ring. The ring is the purple thing in the pic.

[jwateland]

it isn''t the switch it's the metal ring that makes contact to the signal column

[rustyballs_69]

Disconect the negitave battery cable and disconect the airbag in the driver side fuse box. Its yellow.

1. Take off the steering column covers. 3 torx screws. I can't remember what size. No. 30 bit?

2. Remove the airbag from steering wheel by taking out the two No. 30 torx from the back of the steering wheel.

3. Pull the airbag away from the steering wheel and unplug the horn wire and airbag connector. The horn wire turn conterclockwise and pull it out. The airbag connector is on the back of the airbag.

4. There should be a mark on the steering wheel and a mark on the steering shaft so you can line everything up when putting the wheel back on. If there aren't any make some.

5. Pull the steering wheel. You may or may not need a steering wheel puller. I did. If you don't own one you can borrow one from autozone.

6. Under the steering wheel is the clockspring. When it is on the steering shaft there are two marks that are lined up, they need to stay that way. The clockspring has a locking device on it so it shouldn't turn with the steering wheel off. Its still a good idea to put a piece of tape across it just incase. There is a snap ring that hold the clockspring in place. It just pulls of the shaft after the snap ring is off.

7. Under the clockspring is the horn ring. Its held in by a snap ring of sorts, its not like the other snap ring. I had to use a 90 degree pick to get this on off. There is a spring that is pushing on the back side of the contact ring so you may need 3 or 4 hands to get the snap ring off. After putting the new contact ring on you have to depress the spring behind the ring, which is the biggest bitch of the whole job

I'm sure I left something out somewhere since I had done this a long time ago. If anyone has anything else to add go for it. Hope this helps you out.

[Midgear]

^^ whoo that is some helpful information.. I love this forum

[rustyballs_69]

Originally Posted by Midgear

^^ whoo that is some helpful information.. I love this forum

Wish I would have taken pics when I did it. I'm not pulling all that shit off again just to take pics though.

[zzyzzx]

Originally Posted by rustyballs_69

1. Take off the steering column covers. 3 torx screws. I can't remember what size. No. 30 bit?

T25 there on my 1999.

Originally Posted by rustyballs_69

2. Remove the airbag from steering wheel by taking out the two No. 30 torx from the back of the steering wheel.

Not sure exactly how you got the tool in there???

[2fastshifter]

just my two cents. . . . .

my (air)horn used to set off in the middle of the night when temperatures drop in the winter and wake the neigbourhood until the circuit breaker burned out a few times.
i tried to run the horn power by a line that was only powered when the engine was on but that resulted in ramdom horning while driving.

It was the airbag crimping in the cold that activated the build in hornswitch.

i dissassembled the airbag, and lead the hornswitch-wires to the console where i mounted a simple chrome doorbell switch for my horn next to the handbrake.

a lot cheaper than a new airbag and it works great.

[[ion] C2]

Be sure to keep away 9V batteries from the leads to the airbag.

[Vinalero]

Originally Posted by [ion] C2

Be sure to keep away 9V batteries from the leads to the airbag.

Jack-in-a-box?

[Cliff8928]

Originally Posted by [ion] C2

Be sure to keep away 9V batteries from the leads to the airbag.

Unless you want this to happen....

[cherrington17]

Originally Posted by Cliff8928

Unless you want this to happen....

something tells me if you were working on your wheel, and that accidentally happened... it might hurt a bit.

[Cliff8928]

Originally Posted by cherrington17

something tells me if you were working on your wheel, and that accidentally happened... it might hurt a bit.

Yeah, it doesn't look like it would feel too good. That was a friend of mine that set it off. The camera man is another guy he knows with the crazy laugh.

[Midgear]

LOL that bag instantly inflated.. that would crush human bones rofl

could you imagine that slappin someone upside the head.. that would knock someone out for a solid week..

[black]

sweet, i have not had a horn in close to 2-3 years...

i asked about this last year, (??)

now i have something to do this weekend.

[[ion] C2]

ya it would hurt, but luckily it's impossible to happen unless you really want it to go off (finding the right wires and hooking up power to them, 9 volts min.)

[black]

great, it is a dealer part.

i dont like calling them..

anything for aftermarket????

[rustyballs_69]

Originally Posted by black

great, it is a dealer part.

i dont like calling them..

anything for aftermarket????

Not that I know of. I picked mine up from the dealer, $22 something.