66 Chrysler Steering insulator - horn ground

[MetalManiacAZ]

Well, I finally got around to replacing the steering coupler on Betty White and thank goodness I did! I used the Lares units that we all bought a few months ago on RockAuto. When I removed it though, one of the ears on the springy horn ground snapped off. I have lots of baling wire laying around and was wondering if this work. I'll just twist it around the properly sized drill bits to make it look/work like a factory part. I just want to make sure it doesn't have to be a certain type of metal. I sure as hell don't want to do this again for another 10 years. Thoughts?

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

You don't want to use wire that is too resistive, and can possibly heat up. I can't say that baling wire is suitable or not. It may be... and would certainly be easy enough to bend one up. However...

FWIW, the option existed from the factory to use either a spring, or a piece of standard 14 AWG wire with loops at either end. I've seen both on unmolested cars - it depended on what the vendor was offering at the time. The wire connects to one of the big hex bolts on either side of the coupler, and runs through the coupler's centre.

I made mine in about 5 minutes.

 

[MetalManiacAZ]

You don't want to use wire that is too resistive, and can possibly heat up. I can't say that baling wire is suitable or not. It may be... and would certainly be easy enough to bend one up. However...

FWIW, the option existed from the factory to use either a spring, or a piece of standard 14 AWG wire with loops at either end. I've seen both on unmolested cars - it depended on what the vendor was offering at the time. The wire connects to one of the big hex bolts on either side of the coupler, and runs through the coupler's centre.

I made mine in about 5 minutes.

Awesome, thanks Ross! As soon as I pulled out the first Allen bolt, that loop fell on the garage floor. That probably explains why I've had sporadic horn function at different steering angles.