What is this horn contact thing in steering column called?

[atikovi]

1990 Ranger

It's causing the horn not to work. Any part number or aftermarket option?

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I'm not positive, but try clock-spring.

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[atikovi]

That's for airbag cars.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Horn contact switch.

Nobody will know what you are talking about or be able to find anything. I went the JY route...

And there is a difference between tilt and non-tilt columns too.

 

[97RangerXLT]

Another vote for clockspring.

it is there to give electrical continuity to not only the horn, but cruise control and airbag if equipped. or any other control that might be on the steering wheel itself.

AJ

 

[atikovi]

Horn contact switch.

Nobody will know what you are talking about or be able to find anything. I went the JY route...

And there is a difference between tilt and non-tilt columns too.

That's what I figured. What other Ford models can I find this in?

 

[DaddysTruck]

Horn contact is right. Dorman makes contact kits to fix them. Looks like you might just need a new spring in one of them to get it going again.

 

[adsm08]

Another vote for clockspring.

it is there to give electrical continuity to not only the horn, but cruise control and airbag if equipped. or any other control that might be on the steering wheel itself.

AJ

It isn't a clock spring. Clock springs are for airbag cars, and have a defining characteristic of being able to be destroyed by turning the wheel too far.

 

[atikovi]

Horn contact is right. Dorman makes contact kits to fix them. Looks like you might just need a new spring in one of them to get it going again.

Not for Ford.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Another vote for clockspring.

it is there to give electrical continuity to not only the horn, but cruise control and airbag if equipped. or any other control that might be on the steering wheel itself.

AJ

They do the same thing but this style does it with these contacts riding on a metal ring on the back of the steering wheel.

Clock springs wind and unwind as the steering wheel is turned, they actually look like a coiled spring you can find in a clock (possibly where the name came from )

Try BII's and Explorers for sure, not sure if they changed between first or second gens (Ranger/BII's) so watch out for that. I know my '85 has one but I don't remember if it looks exactly the same as yours or not.

 

[Curious Hound]

Building on 85 Rangers description;

The rings are normally called slip rings.

The 2 spring-loaded doohickies would be called brushes. They could be made of copper, brass or carbon.

It appears that you are trying to find the brushes and brush holder assembly.

This is a very common way to transfer electricity between two parts where rotational movement occurs. Such as in some AC motors and alternators.

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[ratdude747]

It isn't a clock spring. Clock springs are for airbag cars, and have a defining characteristic of being able to be destroyed by turning the wheel too far.

*puts on automotive engineer hat*

Or more specifically, a clockspring is effectively a cable reel whose neutral position is half un-reeled. As you turn, it either reels or unreels cable; there is enough cable to get you lock to lock but more than that, well, rips the cable.

As for the name, it's called a clockspring because the internal construction visually mimicks a wound up "ribbon" spring, which was used in a lot of clocks back in the day.

---

As mentioned above, what was pictured is the brush portion of a slip ring. Slip rings use circular contacts and sprung brushes to allow electrical contact through a rotating axis.

Slip rings aren't used for airbags, mainly for reliability reasons. Slip rings are notorious failure points (especially discreet brush ones like in the picture), and while good enough for a horn and other steering wheel switches, are too failure prone for a safety device such as an airbag.

Clocksprings, on the other hand, are far more reliable as there are no brushes to wear out and go bad. The internal wires can fail and a botched steering column job can result in it getting ripped, but otherwise, they don't wear out.

Another concern is the mode of failure; with slip rings the contacts can carbonize and short to each other when worn. In the case of a horn, worst case your horn gets stuck, a fuse blows, or the switches on the steering wheel don't work right. In the case of an airbag, worst case is a short to another circuit which has a path to battery/ground; in which case the airbag could detenate randomly and/or when a switch is hit... especially with older air bags, you can see why having an airbag go off when you honk the horn might become a nasty lawsuit. While a designer can choose the order of the contacts to minimize this, given the state of disrepair some vehicles enter when they get old, the potential still exists.

Closkprings are encased in plastic (no path to ground), so the only way for a short would be for two wires to split at the same point and make contact, which outside of botched repair work is extremely unlikely. Just to be safe, some clocksprings jacket the airbag wires separately as extra protection.

 

[atikovi]

Went to a junkyard today and must have pulled nearly half a dozen steering wheels. 87 Ranger, 88 Ranger, older Explorers and F trucks, none looked the same. No Rangers around 1990 but plenty of newer ones. Last thing I tried was a late 80's Topaz. It looked similar but the plastic body was a little different. The pins were still good so I took it. At home I was able to swap the internal parts and it looks like it will work fine.