I believe the green wire pictured allows the horn to function correct? I also have a black wire (assuming ground?) that is connected to one of the rivets & it wont come off with out cutting either it or the rivet. I have recently recieved a new coupler from CARS & the black wire is non-existant.If I install the green wire on one of the steering shaft bolts can the black wire go on the other bolt? Thanks
Harry - I believe that wire was added.....sure doesn't look factory at all. I've pulled A LOT of steering shafts and have looked at a couple hundred or more over the years in salvage yards and can't recall ever seeing an "external" wire setup like you show in the pic.
Really?? It sure looked like it is original to the car,here's the black wire. I copied this pic off George's site
Maybe someone can check a '70 Assembly Manual and see what shows up in there. Possibly a plant-specific deal, who knows?? Where's Duane???uzzled:
Hmmmm I guess the green goes to the trash then.Wonder why the new coupler doesnt have the ground wire built in,it's a nice part except for that.I'll still have a wire looping around the coupling which sucks.
Guys, The green wire was definately added, that was the old time "fix" used to keep the horn working once the black ground wire broke inside the rag joint. It was a lot faster/cheaper to do that then rip apart the steering column connection, plus buy a new part. (I won't tell you how many times this was done to get a car to pass inspection.) Now this is going from memory so I cannot be sure of the year breaks..................................................... Up into the 70-71 year cars the rag joint was just that a rag, and they used the black wire inside as the ground. (Like the one pictured.) The later ones (72-newer vintage?) incorporated a steel mesh in the rag joint, like you would find in a steel belted tire, and do not have the black wire. The idea was the steel mesh acts as a "wire" between the 2 rivits to give you a ground. Your new part may be the newer "steel belt" style with the built in ground. If it has the belt you can check the ground with a volt meter to verify it has continuance. Duane PS. The assembly manuals will not help. The rag joint was part of the steering box sub-assembly so individual parts are not called out. PSS. We don't look at this while judging, but do use this type of info to see how "original" cars are for purchasing reasons.:laugh::laugh:
Excellent information Duane "Your new part may be the newer "steel belt" style with the built in ground. If it has the belt you can check the ground with a volt meter to verify it has continuance". The new coupling does have continuance :TU: Thanks for the assistance gents:beer
I was going to mention that the "style" of the terminal ends on the external wire may provide some clues here. GM used some very nice terminal ends on their wiring with a nice thick metal and the additional clamping prongs that are separate from the crimped part of the terminal itself (same piece of metal but two crimped areas). Not your typical auto parts store type connectors. Can't tell from Harry's pic but when I looked closely I was thinking those may be the old style, GM terminal ends. Maybe this was some sort of "dealer service bulletin" situation where dealers were told of a "fix" for bad horn grounds??o No:
You can get th orignal terminals still and duplicate the GM style. They are calle Packard 56 Series. Tough to find. Those ones look old.
