Build thread for the 72 GMC, finally. Thanks John!

No video tonight, mostly because it was almost all lawn mower stuff. I ran out of daylight but the mower engine is back installed in the mower I just have to hook everything up and make sure it runs properly. 

As far as the truck, I got the radiator hoses on and finished installing the battery tray and fixed the glove box latch and install the windshield washer bottle. Just little stuff. 

As far as the horn, thank you for the patient, but I'm still kind of stuck. The plunger on my steering wheel is always in contact with the spring washer, but I think it has to ground out the inside diameter with the washer on the steering wheel nut. If that is true, then my steering wheel is deeper than the components were designed for. Right now the horn button is attached to the cup properly, but nothing moves. I believe the horn would be always on if I connected the battery, but I didn't test that yet. I think I need to space the washer away from the steering wheel somehow but that plunger is really long so I must be missing something if that's what's supposed to be in contact only when you depress the horn.

tuna55 said:

I saw that exact video. I think based on that premise, the standoffs are too short. I have one with larger standoffs (similar to the spacers he made) but when I use them the spring isn't engaged anymore.

 

Is that how it works? The horn button itself is the contact? That's... silly.

So, from what I understand, the button is not the contact specifically. This is the whole black magic of it though. I think the metal cup that pushes down on the round spring is the final part of the contact. The white part that has the metal ring on the backside and the pin brings the connection through the steering wheel hub into where the horn button can effect the closing of the connection.  I captured this picture from a youtube video:

The spring plate is what touches the horn contact assembly when you push on the button.  

I apologize if I am asking questions already answered.  I'm just writing this while at work.

1. Is the steering wheel not the original wheel?
2. Have you replaced any of the button/horn contact/cancel cam parts?
3. When everything is on, is the steering wheel installed at the correct depth on the steering column?

With my cousin's Camaro, we had to do a ton of mixing and matching to get everything just right. If there was a different steering wheel before and you are reusing parts with a different wheel, then something may not be in the right place.  Also, double check that the retainer for the plunger isn't pressed in to far and that the spring has not gone past the wide end of the plunger.  If either of those is the case, then the plunger may not be sticking up far enough.  It should sit a little proud of the steering wheel hub so the flat spring can make contact when pressed down.

Story time with Tuna!

The truck was owned by a racist idiot (he was an idiot for more reasons than racism) before me. Not only did he rattle can everything either grey or black (The exterior was black. Everything inside was grey. The wheel, the dash, the radio, the pedals, every emblem in and out, the door panels, etc), but he added a (Buick) hood ornament. He even rattle canned the radiator and the radiator support and the overflow tank. 

Well he took the stock vinyl 72 wheel and picked off all of the vinyl. You can see pictures in the first few pages of this thread. It was a metal rim with metal crossbars, all very thin - just the wire which is supposed to be inside the vinyl. The he bent what appeared to be large soup or juice cans cut with shears around the spokes to make it... I don't know... Anyway these fit as well as you imagine. There was no horn button. There was no horn button stuff, but whenever you turned the wheel, the sheet metal spoke things would slide along the wires and hit the stuff on the wheel and make the horn blow.

So what's on now is a rebuilt stock column and a 68 stock wheel. I have the horn kit from a 66 (Because I thought that was the wheel year initially) and the 68 and the 72 (because I ordered it our of my own idiocy) and none of them work.

The plunger thingie always is in contact with the spring washer deal. It only makes the horn blow when the ID of the spring washer thing hits the column shaft. I -think- it's expecting to be held away from the (towards the driver) steering wheel nut via that spring, which would have to be a good 1/4"+ taller than it is, and the button presses that spring into the washer on the column under the nut.

If I am right, that just means that I need a giant spacer behind (away from the driver) the spring.

The outer edge of the spring plate (cupped spring) contacts the wheel, which is plastic.

The horn contact assembly piece is always in contact with the spring plate.  The spring plate holds the horn button baseplate (cup) "up."

When the horn is pressed, the spring plate flexes such that it touches the steering wheel center which is metal, and grounds the horn relay, turning on the horn.

If the horn button is not "above" the wheel (so it can move), you may have the wrong button baseplate.

You have a variety of plastic rings - you could try placing wide "fender" style washers between the spring plate and the button baseplate to get the button up out of the wheel.

SkinnyG said:

The outer edge of the spring plate (cupped spring) contacts the wheel, which is plastic.

The horn contact assembly piece is always in contact with the spring plate.  The spring plate holds the horn button baseplate (cup) "up."

When the horn is pressed, the spring plate flexes such that it touches the steering wheel center which is metal, and grounds the horn relay, turning on the horn.

If the horn button is not "above" the wheel (so it can move), you may have the wrong button baseplate.

You have a variety of plastic rings - you could try placing wide "fender" style washers between the spring plate and the button baseplate to get the button up out of the wheel.

yup, that's it I think. The spring isn't "tall" enough to clear the center of the steering column and also not tall enough to mount the horn button far enough away from the wheel.

But the problem is twofold. If I space the spring washer just by itself, the plastic three-hole-ring spacer won't be spacer-y enough. It needs to be taller too by the same amount (or more). I am using the tallest of the three I have.

Could you put (glue?) some small washers under the plastic to raise it up a bit?  There might even be plastic washers at your local hardware store.

Or....

You have a welder.  Extend the baseplate.

SkinnyG said:

Could you put (glue?) some small washers under the plastic to raise it up a bit?  There might even be plastic washers at your local hardware store.

Or....

You have a welder.  Extend the baseplate.

Yeah, I think it is a matter of spacers, but it's tricky. The spacer has to have three holes for the screws and a fourth for the plunger deal. Normal washers are too big in diameter, and the OD of the spring washer is very large, so I'll have to make something. Also, 1/4" or so is a lot of washer.

Humor me when you work on this next, please. I think you are mixing too many parts. Maybe you've tried this already, idk. The clear plastic isolators and the other disc spring go with the deep cup for 60-68 trucks, so it should work with your 68 wheel. Whether it plays nice with a 72 column is the question. So it would go steering wheel, then metal disc spring plate, touching the plunger from below. Then the clear disc spacer, then the tall cup, and the clear 3-screw isolator inside the cup.

I could be totally wrong, but that seems like the right parts to work. Unless the horn button is damaged and goes on too deep.

I did see a video of a guy who made the spacers you are talking about, and it seemed to work for him. He used clear packaging plastic from a toy or something.

llysgennad said:

Humor me when you work on this next, please. I think you are mixing too many parts. Maybe you've tried this already, idk. The clear plastic isolators and the other disc spring go with the deep cup for 60-68 trucks, so it should work with your 68 wheel. Whether it plays nice with a 72 column is the question. So it would go steering wheel, then metal disc spring plate, touching the plunger from below. Then the clear disc spacer, then the tall cup, and the clear 3-screw isolator inside the cup.

I could be totally wrong, but that seems like the right parts to work. Unless the horn button is damaged and goes on too deep.

I did see a video of a guy who made the spacers you are talking about, and it seemed to work for him. He used clear packaging plastic from a toy or something.

I saw that same video.

I am using those exact parts right now. The column is actually irrelevant. If I assembled the parts on the wheel without the column, the button should still be held off the wheel surface and spring outward towards the driver like a horn button. So I have a 68 wheel with all 68 parts (the clear ones you mentioned) and it doesn't work right. The wheel is just deeper than the parts can handle. I don't know why.

That guy built spacers from plastic and scissors. That seems like it's -a- path to success.

EDIT: Actually right now I am not using the little clear spacer bit. I don't think it will help, because the clear isolator OD passes through it. I'll try just to make sure, but last I checked it didn't help the situation.

I believe in you.

If I can adapt the factory '61 steering wheel to a '68 column (which required machining the plastic contact ring under the wheel), YOU can do this, too!

tuna55 said:

EDIT: Actually right now I am not using the little clear spacer bit. I don't think it will help, because the clear isolator OD passes through it. I'll try just to make sure, but last I checked it didn't help the situation.

It looks pretty thick from your video. Hope it works!

It is thick, but it doesn't space the isolator away from the wheel. So the isolator, when tightened, just compresses the spring that much more. It still does the same thing, meaning, you attach the button and it's just there.

I think it goes directly under the cup, which would raise everything. But I'm not sure.

In reply to llysgennad :

Right, it raises everything, until you tighten the screws. When you do that, the isolators compress the spring more by the thickness of the clear ring. The isolators are X tall, and when tightened, the cup will be X away from the flat bottom of the wheel, no matter how many spacers are behind the spring.

I'll take a video, maybe tonight...

Two things:

The disc spring plate needs flipped over. The gap is to the outside. At least on the ones I've worked on.

The 3 screws on the isolator don't need to be super tight. They can be backed off to allow a little movement. 

There seem to be two conflicting opinions here, I believe that OD of the spring washer is supposed to contact the wheel, so that's what I did. 

Putting that thick clear spacer beneath the cup just makes the horn not move. It just depresses the spring completely. I added some small washers to the wheel to make the isolator taller and that helped, it spaced the horn away properly. Sadly though, the spring still isn't tall enough, as I suspected. 

If you did not use the washers and left the isolator a little loose, the horn button flops all around. It really has to be tight. 

I have some ideas but none of them are good ones.

EDIT

I am pretty sure a spacer on the OD of the spring will be sufficient, I just need to find non-lawn-mower time to do it.

Here's the list:

Battery - Tim has a great solution coming soon

Horn functionality

Headers & Exhaust system - here, have to install

Windshield washer canister - installed - have to get hose

lever and crank spacers & door panel install

gauge panel / ordered

ash try... something. / 3D printing solutions

carpet/mat

shifter boot

wheels and tires

and...

#11 - Smoke Show!

SkinnyG said:

and...

#11 - Smoke Show!

Not for a bit.

I still need a posi of some kind (Eaton has one I have my eye on) but I definitely can't afford that yet.

I like the door pulls.

tuna55 said:

SkinnyG said:

and...

#11 - Smoke Show!

Not for a bit.

 

I still need a posi of some kind (Eaton has one I have my eye on) but I definitely can't afford that yet.

One tire fire is acceptable