Grant hub adapter issue

[BroncoJimbo]

I've had a Grant steering wheel on the Bronco since I bought it in 1990. Recently, I changed the TS switch out (the one I purchased in 2001 or so was broken) and now the horn is on all the time. I can get it to shut off by not putting the wheel on all the way but as soon as I snug it up it trips the horn relay. It seems like the adapter is pushing on the TS switch too much. The pic below shows about where it should be but if I try to install it there the horn goes off as soon as I push on the wheel. Never mind the wheel is loose since it is not seated on the taper. It's almost like I need the shaft to come out a 1/8" or so but I am not sure if that is even possible.
Thoughts?

 

[Rustytruck]

Never been in the column but cant you loosen the column mount engine side of the firewall and the mount under the dash and push the housing in a little?? I thought there was a small wire lock ring on the shaft down by the top bearing that keeping the shaft from pushing in the bearing.

 

[BroncoJimbo]

I tried that but it didn't budge. It's never been apart so it might be frozen.
So the column housing can go fore and aft?

 

[jckkys]

The common Grant horn switch is a POS. The disc moves in the cover so you never know if the horn will blow. Grant made a billet horn switch for their classic series wheels that did work. They dropped that product so you're stuck with the POS switch. Another problem is the contact surface on the mounting adapter. The turn signal switch has a spring loaded contact that wears through the adapter's contact surface that's nothing but copper foil. Then the horn only works with the wheel turned away from straight forward where the foil wears through first.

 

[ND BRNCO]

Two thoughts. First, the horn works by grounding the circuit to the relay right? So you’ve got an unwanted ground somewhere. Did you check your horn switch in the steering wheel? If the horn is going off as soon as theres some extra pressure, then the switch must be closed, which grounds the circuit. So the wire from the adapter to the back of your horn switch must be touching ground somewhere you don’t want it to. Second thought: So I had the opposite problem with mine. There was a gap between the spring-loaded copper contact on the TS housing and the foil ring on the adapter so the horn would never work as the circuit could never close. By loosening the column as described above I was able (with help from the mini-me in the driver seat pushing in on the steering wheel) to move the inner column down and the outer column up just enough so they do make contact. Then I tightened the retaining ring at the lower bearing to hold it all in place. I would think you’d be able to do the same thing in reverse, pulling the inner and outer columns apart to make a little more room. I don’t know that they should sit as tightly compressed as yours do in that pic? Might be causing an unwanted ground somewhere else in the circuit that way.

 

[BroncoJimbo]

I've installed just the hub adapter so I can see what it is doing. I can put the adapter on and depress the spring-loaded pins but the relay will click if I push it all the way down (like the wheel nut was tightened). At this point I think I have a defective switch since I get continuity between the top horn pin (when depressed) and the plate. I suspect the back of the horn pin is contacting the wire for the gear selector light. I bent it back a little and applied some liquid black tape and it seems to be working.
The turn signal cancellation is still not working but I suspect that is poor design. I left the cover off the adapter so i can see what the problem is there