1975 Bus - New "Scraping" Sound in the Steering Wh

[BellePlaine]

All of a sudden I began experiencing what I would describe as a metal-on-metal crunchy/scraping sound coming from turning the steering wheel on my bus. Something was not right so I took the steering wheel off to take a look. This is what I found:



You can see the copper contact arm is ripped and torn at 11:30. This photo was taken after I straightened it out and removed some small pieces of broken off copper.

The backside of the steering wheel looks like this:


The brass ring has worn through at 6 - 7:00. The steering wheel was inverted for the photo so when placed back onto the column the worn section matches up with the bad part of the copper arm.

Since I don't have the replacement parts, I lubed the assembly with PB Blaster and put it back together for the time being. The scraping sound is a lot better then it was but I can tell that it's still there. Has anyone had this happen to them before? This is a new one for me.

[Amskeptic]

All of a sudden a new one for me.

PB Blaster can attack plastic. DeOx Gel electrical contact anti-oxidant gel would be perfect for that application since the horn requires a lubricated contact area between the steering wheel and the springy contactor strip to allow your horn to blow no matter which direction you are going. You can smooth the sharp edges and gently fold them down from the plane of the steering wheel contact ring and still have full contact for horn blowing duty. Almost.
Colin