Quick horn wiring confirmation

[keymonkey]

So my shop re-wired a couple things under my dash when it was in for a crate swap and since my horn does not work. I took the steering wheel off and to me it looks like the horn button is providing ground. So my assumption then is that one of the pins on the horns themselves should be an ungrounded 12v. Is this correct?

 

[ba123]

Horn has power and button provides ground, if that is what you're asking.

Touch the horn wire to ground at the steering wheel and if the button is providing ground to that wire and horn not honking then you eaither have a break in the line between the button and the horn of an issue with the horn power. You can do the horn power however you want,...either always hot and horn will always work even with ignition off (usually done this way) or only works when ignition on if you want. Just make sure power is fused.

Also could be a bad horn. They do go bad over time. My original '76 horns were one bad and one not so good so just got some newer horns. Use whatever horn you want.

 

[keymonkey]

No reaction to grounding the horn button and also no 12v at the horn itself. Going to test which wire goes to the button on the horn with my multimeter then run a 12v line directly from the fuse panel to see if I can get operational. Then rewire from the harness if it works.

 

[Broncobowsher]

Broncos had 2 ways of doing the horn
Behind the steering where there is either 1 contact slip ring to the steering wheel, or a 2 contact slip ring

2-contact is simple. Power on one wire. The other goes to the horn. Horn is grounded to the body. One brush will show 12V power, the other will have a couple of ohms of resistance to ground.

1-contact adds a horn relay. The contact on the slip ring will show 12V when metered. That is 12V going through the horn relay and looking for a ground. When the horn button is pressed the contact goes to ground (grounds through the bearings to the column and to the body). That energizes the relay, which sends power to the horn, again the horn is grounded to the body.

 

[ba123]

Crap, yeah, forgot about the relay…

 

[DirtDonk]

Is yours a '74 keymonkey? That was the first year that the Bronco used a horn relay. But in my limited experience with them, not all '74's got a relay. So it was yet another running change along with other stuff in the column. What month was yours built in, and do you have a relay under the hood? Would be on the passenger side, along the fender skirt/apron.

And as was mentioned, do you have one horn contact, or two?
If it turns out you have the early, non-relay setup, it's easy to add an aftermarket relay to help your system work better and last longer.

Paul