Horn circuit ground source

69427

The Artist formerly known as Turbo84
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Clinging to my guns and religion in KCMO.
Ran into something I'm curious about. I'm fitting together the new steering linkage from the column to the rack. I noticed on my original rag joint that there is a copper tag on one of the bolts/rivets. Does the horn ground through the column shaft, or what is the function of this tab?

Thanks,
Mike
 
You might get a ground thru the Ujoints too. Or wrap a ground around the OD of the knuckle from the upper end to the rack end.
 
Never been an issue for me.....not a problem, grounded by the main two bolts holding up to the dash.....:search::shocking::beer:
 
Horn grounding through the steering column was always a political football.
Reliable horn operation is a required because of possible safety concerns.
There are several possible ground paths from the horn contact through the steering column. Most of those paths have some chance of not working. Lots of column parts are painted and may isolate. Grease in the steering shaft bearings may cause intermittant ground. Even if the column provides a ground there is a possibility that the instrument panel, brackets, etc may not provide a reliable ground path.

Early flexible couplings had an actual grounding wire that wrapped around the inside donut hole of the rubber disc. It electrically connected adjacent quadrants of the flexible coupling and provided continuity from the steering column side to the steering gear. The grounding wire was later replaced by a brass grounding strap. Finally in the early 1970s the grounding strap was replaced by a mesh screen that was molded into the fact of the coupling disc. (No - the metal screening did not make the disc stronger.)

Saginaw always provided a grounding path from one side of the flexible coupling to the other.
 
50 years driving cars, never knew that....never paid any attention....

course the amount of times I ever had a flex joint go bad is ZERO, not once, even this one was fine when removed for the rack install 7 years ago....and so it was ~25 y/o then....

:surrender:
 
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