Hooter Mystery

[RogerH]

Hi folks

 the other day my hooter was not working. Today I started to have a look at what was going on.

The fuse was OK.
I quickly found that one of the two horns was not actually workable (dead)
But the other was good and loud(ish)  But not working from the horn push on the steering wheel.

After checking all the link wires around the rubber doughnuts I found that all the links actually worked but not necessarily from clamp to clamp either side of the doughnuts.

I removed the lower steering shaft and found that all the lnk wire ring terminals had very dirty corroded contacts with the steel clamp fittings.
They had probably been in place for 20+ years.

Easy enough to clean but what is the best way to keep it clean.

Tomorrow I shall put it all back together and (fingers crossed) test to see that it all works.

Roger

[stuart]

Vaseline will keep water at bay 

Stuart.

[tim hunt]

Having now replaced both original rubber doughnut couplings by Group 4 Escort forged steel UJs I find they not only provide better steering response but also excellent earth continuity and a consistently reliable horn (ooerr Missus)  with no need for the fiddly link wires.

Tim 

[Mees]

Hi Tim

I'm about to swap out my 4A starter motor, which involves partial dismantling of the steering rod assembly, so I’m very interested in your Escort UJ. Is this it? And did it fit straight in? Thanks.

https://motorsport-tools.com/product/steering-uj-coupling-universal-long-type-joint-steel-escort-mk2-mk1-115611?srsltid=AfmBOor73xTXC2O_POEotQBhTQNl2UbZ8LmKEJARZUX8eUDqoDOsrDpV

Ian

[rcreweread]

9 minutes ago, Mees said:

Hi Tim

I'm about to swap out my 4A starter motor, which involves partial dismantling of the steering rod assembly, so I’m very interested in your Escort UJ. Is this it? And did it fit straight in? Thanks.

https://motorsport-tools.com/product/steering-uj-coupling-universal-long-type-joint-steel-escort-mk2-mk1-115611?srsltid=AfmBOor73xTXC2O_POEotQBhTQNl2UbZ8LmKEJARZUX8eUDqoDOsrDpV

Ian

These are quoted as “long ones” - I would think you would be better off with short ones as you need to make enough room to slide them over the column splines - you can loosely fit the clamps to give you wiggle room but it can still be tight

cheers Rich

[tim hunt]

13 hours ago, Mees said:

Hi Tim

I'm about to swap out my 4A starter motor, which involves partial dismantling of the steering rod assembly, so I’m very interested in your Escort UJ. Is this it? And did it fit straight in? Thanks.

https://motorsport-tools.com/product/steering-uj-coupling-universal-long-type-joint-steel-escort-mk2-mk1-115611?srsltid=AfmBOor73xTXC2O_POEotQBhTQNl2UbZ8LmKEJARZUX8eUDqoDOsrDpV

Ian

Yes that's the one Ian, about 95 mm overall length, very close to that of the rubber coupling and they both went straight in with no problems. The RD863 comes tapped for 8mm bolts. I just drilled mine through to allow 5/16UNF bolts to fit. Be sure to use high tensile bolts since significant torque is needed to ensure secure clamping to the rack pinion and steering columns. 

I found that to service my old M418G starter motor it was necessary to disconnect the upper flexible coupling to allow the column to be moved aside to create enough clearance to remove and replace the starter. What a pain and another benefit of fitting a much smaller high torque starter motor (a Powerlite in my case). 

Tim

[Mees]

Thanks Tim. I’ve just measured the existing coupling, it’s a bit difficult to get in, but the length is circa 93mm long, and the clamping bolt centres are circa 74mm. Which ties in quite nicely with the product spec dims of the Escort coupling.

The short one that Rich mentioned is 82mm lg, but doesn’t give the clamping centres, but by default if it’s 10mm shorter then the clamping centres will also be 10mm shorter, which might be too short.

ian