At Carlisle this weekend, I picked up my new Rallye steering wheel from Mike Moore. We fooled around with it a little bit at the show, going so far as to buy a $6 wheel puller at a tool tent and pull the cover off my current wheel. Where I stopped was when we compared the guts of the full-size wheel to the Rallye wheel; there are two wire leads entering my current wheel, one for a ground and one for power to the horn.
The Rallye wheel has one obvious connection point for what I’d assume is power at the 12 o’clock position; there is no other lead on the plastic at all.
I started looking through the Binder Planet to see if anyone else has blazed a trail for me to follow, and found this Steering Wheel Replacement thread with a link to some more pictures which illustrate how to use the wheel puller. It also reveals that I’ll need to get two 1/4″ x 28 thread bolts to fit the pull holes; most likely the ones I have are metric. This thread is even more helpful, as it’s got commentary with excellent pictures.
What I’m gonna have to do is pull my current wheel apart and dick around with it for a little bit to see if what I have will work with what I bought. If not, it’s a call to Super Scout Specialists for the stuff I’ll need.
Phil says:
Hi Bill,
What you’re looking at is two different methods to ground the horn relay wire to the steering column bolt in the center. Your original setup uses an isolated switch inside the horn button to complete the circuit, which is why there appear to be two wires. It’s hard to tell from the picture, but it looks like there is a spring-loaded assembly inside the Rallye wheel, and the button probably just pushes on that to make the connection. If you were to pull your original steering wheel, I bet you’d find just one wire coming from the column.
Here is a very simplified schematic of a typical horn circuit:
http://www.junkyardgenius.com/wiring/Images/HornWire.gif
And the harder-to-follow but more complete schematic from BinderBlues (the horn circuit is at lower right):
http://www.binderblues.com/main/tech_imgs/gauges.gif
Phil says:
Oh, one other thing, because I didn’t see it mentioned in any of the links you posted: Before you pull the old wheel, turn the front wheels until they are as straight as you can get them, and/or (if your current steering wheel is aligned correctly) mark the 12 o’clock position on the column bolt. This will help you install the new wheel correctly the first time. Seems like a simple thing, but it’s amazing how many people forget to do this.
bill says:
Phil,
THANKS for the info. My wheel is pointed drunkenly to starboard with the wheels straight right now; it will be fantastic to get it lined back up the right way.
Currently I’m on the hunt for a set of decent bolts for the puller; Home Depot doesn’t have anything with a 28 thread that I was able to find. I think the local Ace Hardware will have what I need.