Horn/light switch rod, is it bent too much?

rockfla

rockfla

Well-known member
I received a horn/light switch rod today to ship overseas with some other parts for a friend, looking at it from the horn button end, it has a “slight” bend at the light switch end. From the start of the square for the light switch going back toward the horn button end I put a 24” machinist rule on the shaft and it has approximately a 1/16th” bow to it. From the 24” point up to the horn button it is straight. I plan o. Taking by my machinist and chucking it into his lathe and putting a dial indicator on it and getting a more accurate amount of bend BUT initially is that 1/16th going to cause an issue lining up???
 
I believe that to be a very minor issue, and won’t be a problem at all. I doubt you need do anything at all. To double check, just insert it into the shaft, lock it down with the spring, turn the steering wheel in both directions and see if the horn button turns with the wheel.
 
ford38v8 said:
I believe that to be a very minor issue, and won’t be a problem at all. I doubt you need do anything at all. To double check, just insert it into the shaft, lock it down with the spring, turn the steering wheel in both directions and see if the horn button turns with the wheel.
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This. They are designed to be almost arrow straight. I had a '32 rod with a slight bend. I worked it for about a week inside a piece of angle iron. I thought I got it straight, but when installed it turned the lights on every time I turned the wheel so it wasn't straight enough. I thought about bringing to an archery shop since they straighten arrows, something like a hollow rod should be a piece of cake for them.
 
ford38v8 said:
I believe that to be a very minor issue, and won’t be a problem at all. I doubt you need do anything at all. To double check, just insert it into the shaft, lock it down with the spring, turn the steering wheel in both directions and see if the horn button turns with the wheel.
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I can’t, the car it’s going in is in Poland, hence why I am asking NOW before it leaves me!!!

Tim Ayers, thanks, I will continue with my plan to spin it in a lathe and find the exact length and spot of the bend and go about straightening it from there!!!
 
MMM, yeah I'd be scared of trying to grab it in a lathe. I just roll them on a clean table to see the damage your trying to fix, ( ha ! clean table in my shop! ) then put in the vise to bend. You are not really clamping in the vise, just set the jaws to the tube size so you have something to push/pull from.
 
cas3 said:
MMM, yeah I'd be scared of trying to grab it in a lathe. I just roll them on a clean table to see the damage your trying to fix, ( ha ! clean table in my shop! ) then put in the vise to bend. You are not really clamping in the vise, just set the jaws to the tube size so you have something to push/pull from.
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I agree with this. Get a piece of angle iron slightly shorter than the rod so the horn button end hangs off of it. You'll see right away where the bend is.

I worked it and worked it, but I was unsuccessful in getting the bend out. Even with the slightest bend and placed in my '32 column, it bound up and turned the lights on.
 
Also, if you do have to hold it tight for any other repairs, as Brian pointed out the tube is very thin so clamping tight in a vise can crush it or ruin the seam. To hold them I drill a hole in a block of wood, then make a saw cut to the hole, then you can clamp that in a vise and the wood will give enough to grab the tube. The top end is harder to fix than the tube. If the top sits crooked or is loose they can crack the thin wall tube, or loosen up the crimp that Ford must have had a nice machine to crimp that we don't have! I have made new top fixtures, but thats another story
 
Tim Ayers said:
I agree with this. Get a piece of angle iron slightly shorter than the rod so the horn button end hangs off of it. You'll see right away where the bend is.
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Don't put it in a lathe! A 1/16" is probably fine.

I had great success in straightening a horn rod. I had an angle piece, old bed frame angle that I used.

- Lay the rod in the crotch and rotate it until your gap is greatest
- Mark with a piece of soap stone which is good with its rectangular shape,
opposite to the mid-point of the gap.
- Take horn rod out and place the soap stone mark so that it is in direct
contact with the wood piece.
- Bend carefully with uniform force as shown in my picture.

You need to overbend slightly since the rod has been yielded and wants to keep the bent shape. For some larger gaps, I put the soap mark down in the mid-point between two wood blocks and pressed down with my thumbs in mid-span

When I thought I was good, I checked it in a spare steering shaft to make sure it wasn't binding. Last step was spraying the rod thoroughly with Teflon spray lube.

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If you are shipping it to Poland, or anywhere, I would suggest you encase it in a piece of rigid PCV or ABS pipe with removable end caps (for customs inspection). I may cost a bit more to ship, but the receiver will get a straight rod.
 
51woodie said:
If you are shipping it to Poland, or anywhere, I would suggest you encase it in a piece of rigid PCV or ABS pipe with removable end caps (for customs inspection). I may cost a bit more to ship, but the receiver will get a straight rod.
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That's how you ship body trim also. no matter if to the next county or the next continent.
 
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