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View Full Version : Ham's 48: Make it go "HOOT"



LarrBeard
03-27-2021, 07:15 PM
I firmly believe that no matter how good an old Jeep looks to viewers, the owner always knows that there is just “one more” thing that needs to be improved on. Ham’s ’48 is certainly in that category – maybe more than “one more” thing on the list, but still – there is a list.

One of the mysteries that had lurked in the beast since the first days it awoke from its 35-year hibernation was; “Why won’t the horn blow today?” It had a new wiring harness, the horn had been rebuilt but one day it would blow, the next day it wouldn’t and some days it wouldn’t stop blowing until it was good and ready.

SO, early this month I decided that it was time to get to the bottom of the mystery. I grabbed a handful of clip leads and started testing things. The connection from the battery to the horn was good – it always had power to the hot side, one wire was eliminated as being the problem. If I grounded the other horn terminal with a clip lead, it hooted every time, so it wasn’t the horn. The wire from that terminal of the horn wanders through the harness and breaks out just below the steering column. There is a Bakelite plastic connector there, so I checked it out. The connector and the wire back up through the harness to the horn was good – another wire segment checked OK.

All that was left was the wire that runs up the steering column to the terminal under the horn button. I connected my meter to the wire coming out of the bottom of the steering column and checked for continuity to the horn button contact. It was good too – but then it wasn’t.

If I wiggled the contact that was crimped to the wire at the horn button end, it was intermittent! Finally – something that made sense. I put on my set of magnifiers and looked very closely at the contact that has been crimped to the horn wire. The horn wire has a color-coded outer cover and a rubber inner layer of insulation. The contact has two sets of crimp ears; one to be crimped to the two layers of insulation to give mechanical support and one set to be crimped to the copper inner conductor for the electrical connection. When the harness was made, the wire had been improperly stripped. The ears that were supposed to crimp the insulation did indeed catch both layers, but the inner rubber insulation had been improperly cut. It stuck way out beyond the outer layer of insulation. The second set of crimp ears were crimped to the rubber inner insulation instead of the copper center conductor. The only contact with the conductor was when the wire happened to flop around in the barrel of the contact. (The attached picture may make more sense...)

I talked to Mike at KWAS and he sent me a horn button kit for the little Jeeps. It was close, but the center contact for the little Jeeps is a flat contact; the truck needs a more rounded contact, so that didn’t work out.

SO, I put my magnifiers on again and started trying to peel the old contact off the wire. I broke some of the crimp fingers, but there were enough left to squeeze the contact back on and I was able to make a pretty fair solder joint to get a good electrical connection. The horn hoots reliably now. I still need the conical spring to make it a little closer to original, but it works better now than it has worked since 1962 when the whole horn guts came out of the wheel and my Dad just rubbed the wire on the nut to blow it.

Now, on the next project on the punch list – that leaky differential vent!

gmwillys
03-27-2021, 07:49 PM
Great job Chief. Intermittent electrical issues can be tough to track down, unless you follow the every circuits and wiggle each wire.

5JeepsAz
03-27-2021, 08:43 PM
Might have the same problem. Great info!

LarrBeard
03-28-2021, 01:51 PM
Great job Chief. Intermittent electrical issues can be tough to track down, unless you follow the every circuits and wiggle each wire.


I know you've been there and chased that ... trying to pull crimped contacts out of a 57-pin MS Connector to get to the one wire you need to look at. Our Engineering Assembly Shop cable ladies always did a great job, but when we had to outsource for production cables, we almost always had strip/crimp/tool issues with the new lowest price vendor.

bmorgil
03-28-2021, 05:50 PM
Now, on the next project on the punch list – that leaky differential vent!

That diff leak is, baffling.....

gmwillys
03-29-2021, 05:55 AM
A good portion of our harnesses are sub contracted out to the lowest bidder outfit out of Mexico. We have lots of issues with bad/wrong diodes, broken wires, pins that won't lock in place, improper crimp, or just plain pinned incorrectly. What is real entertaining is when you have an issue, and you pin out the harness and everything checks out with the DVOM, and everything works when the harness is slaved in just to find out that when the harness is installed and tied into place, a pin pulls back when ran according to the print. What makes the job fun is when the harness runs from the nose of the vehicle, then all the way to the rear wall, especially if there was a dead short, and all of the magic smoke is released, and melts the corresponding plastic air lines that travel down the same paths that the harness runs.

LarrBeard
03-29-2021, 06:34 AM
Yep, same thing in airplanes...

One of my favorites is the one undersized pin that won't lock into the backshell and then backs out when you engage the connector

bmorgil
03-29-2021, 07:09 AM
I always felt those "pin" connectors were as cheesy as they get, yet we use them in the most sophisticated and cannot fail circumstances. I am so used to the way my dad hooked up his HAM gear and worked on his electrical hobbies in the 60's and 70's. He spent a great deal of time teaching me how important a good soldered connection was. The danger of the cold solder joint. Good connections were always very important. You think we could come up with something better.

gmwillys
03-29-2021, 10:50 AM
The commo cables are the worst. Tiny pins that bend over when you look at them sideways. Testing commo starts with turning the system on, then go around to see why each crew station doesn't want to work.

TJones
03-30-2021, 04:16 AM
Here you go Larry it’s close to you:cool:

8040

bmorgil
03-30-2021, 05:40 AM
Man those thing are ugly as sin! Very cool to drive around in. My brother used to plow snow with a FC in the 60's.

LarrBeard
03-30-2021, 05:59 AM
Gee, thanks for bringing that to my attention.

The FC-series trucks were similar in concept to the original Ford Econoline vans; get the most cargo space as possible for a given wheelbase. You sat in front of the front wheels and it took you a while to get used to the turn radius - you ran over a lot of curbs the first week or so you drove a vehicle in this configuration.

The FC-s are so Fugly that they have a certain cuteness of their own. Kind of like having an English Bulldog for a lap dog. The biggest disadvantage to having one of these is the uniqueness of the body parts. With the "normal" Jeep trucks and wagons, everything from 1946 though 1969+ would more or less swap to some extent. Not these critters. Walck's was talking about making FC-150 and FC-170 replacement panels several years ago, so parts may be more available now.

One of the ladies at work drove an FC-150 for a couple of years; we dubbed it the Mugly Other.

In jest I would add several other disadvantages to having this truck:

1. Like an A-10 Warthog aircraft, you have to sneak up on it in the dark - no one would get into something that ugly in full daylight when you can see all of it.

2. You have to wear a full face hood to drive it. You don't want anyone to know who who you are.

3. And, I really can't afford to buy it. I would have to build a new car barn off the property. My wife would not let me bring anything that looks like that on the place.

Now, having poked fun at it - it does look pretty solid for its age and it should clean up well. It is an important piece of Jeep history and I'm glad it has survived in near-original condition this long.

(I really liked that '85 Wagoneer in the BaT post)

gmwillys
03-30-2021, 06:37 AM
Not many vehicles earn the award for having the ability to scare the goat off of a Great Northern Railroad boxcar. Although I do like odd and unusual, I am not too eager to deal with another cabover. After years of fooling around with old worn out shifting linkage, heat from the engine next to your hip, and the lack of ease to work on, I'd pass.

TJones
03-30-2021, 07:05 AM
As for Larrbeards comment on the 85 Wagoneer it caught my eye as well, I just can't figure out for the life of me why these old Pickup Trucks,Blazers,Scouts and Broncos are bringing STUPID Money...

And the FC is and will always be Fugly:rolleyes:

gmwillys
03-30-2021, 11:03 AM
As a spectator of the online auctions, most do not sell for the asking or reserve price. Outfits like Barrett Jackson demand and most of the time get stupid money for their offerings, but that is an occasion where you get people with more money than they know what to do with, cheap drinks, and TV influencing the market. The resurgence of the early 4X4s is a society curve. People have been in isolation due to work, computers, family commitments, etc. Baby boomers are retiring from the rat race with money in their retirements, and can afford to have a vintage Bronco as their get-a-way vehicle that they had in their youth. Now Millennials are stepping back to simpler times as well, and buying vehicles they had only heard about.

bmorgil
03-31-2021, 06:21 AM
I think your on track with the TV gm. I have never seen a population so stuck on, I must get my face on TV, I must have "likes" and "followers". I am sure the Auctions we see on line now, are simply shows of money. People with too much showing it off, paying way over what something is worth just to beat the next guy out of it. I would think much more of them if they were bidding on feeding the hungry.

gmwillys
03-31-2021, 06:31 AM
You are correct Bmorgil, it's the have's rubbing their haves in the face of the have nots.

TJones
03-31-2021, 09:51 AM
I really believe your both spot on.
My philosophy has always been “there is a huge difference between what we need and what we want”
We don’t need much!!!!

5JeepsAz
03-31-2021, 06:41 PM
So, is the FC capable of removing his dead goat from the backseat of his heater doaner or what? Did I miss something? Any automobile that could do that has to have some redeeming qualities even if it is ugmo. My 2c are take money out of the equation. If it still makes sense, do it. It it makes no sense except for money, look up and read the roadsigns to where you are going, likely the road paved with good intentions. Not sure if that actually works bmorgil, mechanical wise. But then I don't twerk wrenches. I twerk steering wheels and pedals only, and the occasional knob twerking. God alrighty she drove great today!!!

mrgrtt123
04-15-2021, 12:29 AM
This post will be really helpful in the future. Thank you for telling us about your experience.
You may check out 4wheelonline in case you need auto accessories for your jeep in the future.