marcapra

Joe, I think you are probably talking about a different car. On the DeSoto, the ornament has nothing to do with the spring. The spring is pushed down by the plate 8-33-34 and compressed by it before the retainer and horn ring are installed. Yes, I put the cup on before the nut as in the blow up. That other plate 8-33-26 goes on the back of the plastic DeLuxe spoke. I found out today that my screws for the horn ring were not what the Parts Book called for. According to it, they should be 1 1/4" long flat heads. I used 1" long round heads. So I bought the right size screws and they don't work. they bottom out at 1" so you can't cinch them down all the way. I also found out that when I ground the two bolts in half that hold down the top of the retainer, I damaged the top "V" part of the spider. That might have an effect on the horn ring play. So I just bought a new spider from AB.

Nothing is missing. There is a spring, but it's not part of the horn ring. The spring is under the plate, and the plate is screwed down on the inside of the steering wheel.

I just took my steering wheel off on the post because i was having problems cinching down the screws on the retainer. So I took the wheel to my table to do a check fit on the parts. Everything goes together very well, but I have a question about the horn ring. I don't know why I said bumper in the video when I meant horn ring. Is it supposed to have this much free play?

I was an English teacher by profession and one term always bothered me: 2 door coupe. Doesn't the term coupe mean 2 door by definition? But the proudest moment that I had as an English teacher was when my students said "Mr. Capralis, we want to thank you for teaching us to talk good English".

I used a drill with no. 2 Phillips bit to get the screws out. No soap. Put a rubber band in the hole like a guy on YT said. No soap. Finally had to resort to the nuclear option. I took a disc grinder and went through the top of the retainer and ground the bolts in half. It took a lot of grinding, and I even almost set my pants on fire! I finally got both bolts cut in half. My grinder accidentally cut a 1.5" line out of the top of the steering wheel spoke. But it's a hard rubber wheel that I can easily repair with bondo and paint over. I took the retainer and spider over to my spare steering wheel and used new oval head screws No. 10- 32 X 1". The retainer cinched right up tight like it's supposed to be. I examined the old screws to see if they were stripped and they looked OK. And the threaded bolts unscrewed easily from the retainer. So it's still a mystery why I couldn't cinch these bolts up tight on my installed wheel, or unscrew them. I think I may paint my spare wheel and use it since the bolts fit so nicely on it.

Maybe a mirror and a flashlight. I tried using my phone to take a picture, but all I got was a black hole. I got the bottom screws out, now I'm still having trouble on the top screws. I saw a video on Yt where a man used a thick rubber band to put on the screw head so that the phillips bit would not slip and he loosed some screws that were totally stripped. I have not used a drill yet, so maybe I'll try that next.

WTB 1948 S-11 steering wheel spider part no. 1115770. Thanks, Marc.

I put the horn ring on my steering column as that goes on first. Then I aligned the steering wheel to the shaft and tightened the nut. But when I tried to screw the retainer on to the spider through the back, I can't tighten the screws. It's hard because the you have to work blind and backwards. So it's hard to tell if you are even turning the screws. It went together just fine on the workbench, but you have to put the spider and retainer on with the steering wheel already mounted. I have been trying to unscrew the screws, but they won't unscrew either. Any ideas?

Now something that isn't easy unless you know what you're doing is getting the all the horn contacts, spring, cup, spider, horn ring, and st. wh. nut put together in the right order in the steering wheel! And these HF solder guns are pretty lousy. They don't really get hot enough to do a decent soldering job.

Going from the bottom of the steering column up to the steering wheel was so easy, I don't even think I needed the bailing wire!

I have a 48 DeSoto with the M-5 transmission, and I know the spring you mention. My car also has the gearshift selector cross over spring part no. 1120 874. My 51 Parts Manual that covers all MoPar passenger cars has the same part number. Here are the spring's dimensions - (5/8" O.D., 3 1/2" long, with 24 coils)

Looks like Ben's advice won as the simplest and easiest way to do this job. the key to doing this job is to go from the bottom up and not the steering wheel down. I went to HD and bought some 18 ga bailing wire. The clerk tried to advise me to buy the 16 ga, but I wisely rejected that for being too stiff. I just wrapped the horn wire around the end of a 5 ft. length of bailing wire and stuffed into the steering column. It was easy to do, so thanks to Ben for the simplest solution to the problem!

I think that little bolt is meant to hold a ground wire. So I'm going to run my glove box light ground wire to the clock bolt, and run another ground wire to the dash from there. I'm not sure that's how it went originally, but it might be good.

Thanks Andy and Ben, both sound like good ideas. I will try one or both of the tomorrow.

Looks like this job is going to be a little tougher than I thought. The 1/8 rod goes through, but how to connect the horn wire to it. I can't solder it. I can solder stranded wire to stranded wire, but how do you solder a rod to a brass bayonet plug? Sounds more like a welding job. I tried taping them together, but tape doesn't hold. I also tried pushing the wire in and twisting it back and forth to get under the crossmember, but that didn't work.

Thanks John for clearing that up. I was about to go to the PetsRus store to get some goldfish. But I think I found the answer. I went to HD and bought a 48" long rod 1/8" thick. I put it in at the steering wheel and it was too short to come out the end, so I took a chance and let it fall. It fell right through! I could feel that there is a cross member that was stopping my wire. So I pulled the rod up so it would go under the cross member and it fell out the other end. I think all I have to do now is to solder my horn wire to the rod and pull it through. Easy!

These are some really great clues guys! Thanks. I still don't know how fish would help though. Alive or dead?

I'm trying to put my horn wiring together and I am trying to push the horn wire down the steering column and out the end. But about 3/4 of the way down, the wire is getting hung up on something. I think there is a trick to putting the wire in. Maybe you have to put the wire on a straight piece of clothes hanger wire to push it through. anyone have any ideas? Thanks, Marc.

Does the clock also need a ground wire? Is that what this post is for on the clock? it's near the speaker in these pics.

I checked Amazon and now Mobil sells the Light Circulating oil in one gallon containers. Buy two of these and you can fill the fluid drive with a quart left over. https://www.amazon.com/Mobil-DTE-24-Hydraulic-Oil/dp/B06XCBZRX2/ref=sims_dp_d_dex_popular_subs_t1_v2_d_sccl_4_7/142-4214878-5936743?pd_rd_w=8nqIG&content-id=amzn1.sym.93fb329b-9ab7-470f-8799-6fc7669b8d84&pf_rd_p=93fb329b-9ab7-470f-8799-6fc7669b8d84&pf_rd_r=SMYX87GPPC5KXHTF98J7&pd_rd_wg=SO6KW&pd_rd_r=5cfae782-f022-40b6-8fd3-20ddac183e5c&pd_rd_i=B06XCBZRX2&psc=1

The fluid drive oil is a light circulating oil like Mobil One DTE 32 iso on amazon. I think it only comes in 5 gallon buckets. You only need 7 quarts so this might be the better oil. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07K3YQZXZ/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_plhdr=t&aaxitk=d004ce4517cb9abb3cd904973d09c6f7&hsa_cr_id=2292347200401&qid=1710116355&sr=1-1-9e67e56a-6f64-441f-a281-df67fc737124&ref_=sbx_be_s_sparkle_mcd_asin_0_img&pd_rd_w=ynMLh&content-id=amzn1.sym.417820b0-80f2-4084-adb3-fb612550f30b%3Aamzn1.sym.417820b0-80f2-4084-adb3-fb612550f30b&pf_rd_p=417820b0-80f2-4084-adb3-fb612550f30b&pf_rd_r=J994WWB27TD47PQSQC7X&pd_rd_wg=VCTd4&pd_rd_r=bd55891b-a298-494e-96d6-8bc29e04ab49&th=1

I found my old glove box light that was riveted to the old, long gone glove box. You can clearly see the ground wire riveted to the old glove box light. This is not shown in the car's wiring diagram. I got another glove box light from a 47 DeSoto that was fastened to the cardboard with very small screws and nuts. So I have to make another ground wire and mount it under the screw. By the way, that tube thing is for the glove box light to do double duty as an ashtray light also. Oddly, the 47 light has a plastic prism inside that tube, but the 48 tube does not.

Most components on my 48 DeSoto are grounded by the metal dash. But my glove box light is screwed to the side of a cardboard glove box. Would it need a ground wire? I guess I could test it with a multi-tester.

I used a pressure washer with cold water on my 48 DeSoto chassis. It only gets off the loose dirt and sand. It just bounces off the greasy caked on grime. You have to use a spatula to get off the hardened grease. And then use a steam washer.

I guess I'm thinking of Pontiac and maybe Oldsmobile that had a choice of sixes or eights flathead engines.