39D11

Hi Richard, I am at North Avoca and the small bolts for the contact plate came from Gosford Bolts & Bearings 3/ 24-28 Glennie Street West, Gosford NSW 2250. Near the Show grounds. When you digest my previous message I am happy to talk with you by mobile. All the best, Graeme

Hi again Richard, Firstly, many thanks for responding to my post. I have spent a couple of hours with a nearby neighbour. His experience is manly with modern autos but we tried a few options with the horn system. He made a suggestion which I was 100% sure would not work but I agreed to try his idea. I am pleased that I did not over-rule him or put money on. To my relief the horn works as it should. On my 1939 D11 Dodge Luxury Liner (to give it it's full title) the horn -steering wheel set up is much like what is illustrated in models of the late 30's early 40's in the FIGURES attached . The main difference between these and my 1939 set up is that the horn ring is held to the steering wheel by 3 bolts (not easy to insert as they are screwed from the dash side of the wheel). SO the order of the parts as we assembled bits was as follows - - place the steering wheel (6 in FIG 3) onto column - place the washer (8) of about 2 inch diameter with raised edges which keep the spring in place onto end of column - put the nut (7) on to hold the steering wheel secure. - Insert the contact wire (12) with 3-pronged contact plate (11) down the column and join to the horn. I disconnected the battery until testing was wise. - fix the 3-pronged contact plate (11) to the steering wheel using the 3 screws (4) - mine were 7/64 " by about 5/8" (8-10 mm) long with 40 pitch thread. A bolts and bearings shop in Gosford supplied one to replace one that I lost. - wind the spring (5) past the 3-pronged contact plate until it is neatly between the 2" washer and the 3-pronged contact plate. Inserting the spring at this stage is easier, faster and less likely to lead to damage to the 7/64' bolts. - rotate the spring so that the end of the spring is under one of the 3 arms of the contact plate. - sit the horn blowing ring (3) onto the spring and and over the 3 prongs of the contact plate and secure with the blowing ring retaining ornament (2). You have probably done all this several times. We did not get this right the first few times either,. What made the difference for us was that we removed the 1/2" x 1" insulating? plastic pieces which I believed should go under the ends of the arms of the 3 prongs of the contact plate. As I said this was not my idea. These are shown in the image IMG-5699 attached.. They look black but were a deep sky blue. What we seemed to change was the small gap between the spring and the contact plate. With the plastic pieces the horn blew all the time. Without the plastic pieces the horn worked as it should. I.e there is a fine line between success and failure. HOW DOES IT WORK As I see it when no horn is needed the horn blowing ring (3) keeps pressure on the spring (5) so the spring does not contact the blowing ring contact plate (11). A small movement of the horn blowing ring is enough to allow contact between the spring and the contact plate to complete the circuit. The tolerance is very small. When assembled the blowing ring retaining ornament (2) was flush with the steering wheel and the blowing ring cleared the arms of the steering wheel by only about 1/8" (4 mm). I hope this message is of some use. Best wishes Graeme

Hi Richard, I assume you sorted out the problem with the horn on your Chrysler Royal. Hopefully at no cost!. I am keen to know how you solved it because I have the same problem assembling the horn on my 1939 D11 Dodge. The workshop exploded diagrams fail to explain how the contact is made which sounds the horn. I live just north of Sydney but with Covid closing the NSW/QLD border I cannot call in person. Thanks. 39D11