I have a horn ring again, and how I fixed it :-) Steering wheel

[chrisklinger]

For hears I've been driving with no horn ring, just the little brass contact pin ( 113.951.549 ) which I could push with my thumb when needed, as the screw holes in the steering wheel were stripped.

Well, I FINALLY ordered some belts for my Unimat lathe, and decided to attack this.

I turned brass stock to about 5mm in diameter, and drilled all the way through, then tapped to 3.5x.6mm. Had a taper tap and a bottoming, but the part was just a bit too long for the tap to go all the way through, so I tapped from both sides.

The holes these thread into go all the way to the back side (front?) of the steering wheel and take the three screws that retain the self-cancelling ring. The washers on these screws are some sort of rather thick plastic, but were entirely too brittle to re-use.

I drilled the threaded holes in the steering wheel for an interference fit with the threaded inserts, and made the length of my pieces so that they were a few millimeters short of the face of the wheel.

Pressed the inserts into the wheel, and put the cancelling ring screws back, replacing the old washers with two #6 stamped nylon washers under the head of each. Found out that the cancelling ring tends to shift a bit, and short to the screw shank and/or insert (causing the horn to stay and, and precipitating a mad dash to pull the fuse), so pulled the screws again, and put about 1/8" long heat shrink on the shankl of each screw, under the head; problem resolved.

Installed the horn ring, and everything works BEAUTIFULLY! I no longer have to destroy my thumb when I need the horn

Happy day!

Sept. '59 build, 1960 model year, 100% stock

[matthew henricks]

My 64 has the same issue. Stripped threads. Do you have any more images of your work? I was hoping to simply install threaded inserts.

_________________
1964 Original Owner build Thread. https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=702135&highlight=

Ambulance Fan's. https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=627707&highlight=

Parts i am looking for:
64 bug nice used front/rear Black LHD floor mat.

[chrisklinger]

That's what I did, made threaded inserts. I just hadn't realized that the screws in the back are in the same drilling as the horn ring screws. This makes it super-easy, as the back screws retain the threaded inserts.
I didn't take more pics, though I wish i had.