r3dplanet Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 I've repeatedly torn apart my steering wheel assembly to clean out the contacts, spiral ring, etc., in an attempt to make my horn and cruise control work. I'm pretty sure that the problem is that the three copper ~4.5mm horn "brushes" are simply worn too far down. I haven't been able to find a part number or replacements. Does anyone have any clever ideas? Thanks, Marcus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NC95Pathfinder Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 When I was having problems with my cruise control I tried taking it all apart and cleaning it, even tried to stretching the contact springs a little, that didn't work. What finally worked for me was cutting sections of vacuum hose about 1/8" long and putting them on the screws behind the ring plate, basically pushing the plate up toward the contacts. Haven't had any problems with it since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahardb0dy Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 See my thread here: http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/topic/35469-steering-wheel-contact-ring-spacers/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k9sar Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 (edited) I pulled my rods out and drilled (from the back) another 3/16 or so. If you poke around, you will find that there is a lot of room to take the hole deeper and still retian the rod by its little nub. The spring is more than adequate to push the rod out even with the deeper hole. From my other post: 1. Took steering wheel off to gain access to the 'brushes' that make the connection to the back of hte steering wheel. These are spring-loaded copper or brass rods that had worn down to the point where they did not make good contact anymore (there are 3, 2 for he cruise control and 1 for the horn). I pondered extending the existing rods by brazing a piece on or reshaping them with a hammer but I decided on a much simpler solution. I removed the back plate that allowed me to drop the roda and springs out of the housing (that also holds the wiper and headlight levers). Turns out that the holes are just slightly bigger than 3/16" and the rods have a bit of a flair on them at the spring end. About halfway through the plastic, the holes narrow to just under 3/16" which gives a lip to retain the rods so the springs don't shoot them out in your face when you remove the steering wheel (ok, they aren't THAT strong). I took a 13/64" drill and ran it into the holes from the back and continued past the 'lip' for another 3/16" or so in depth. This gave the rods further room to travel to make contact with the back of the steering wheel. Put it all back together and all three functions work fine. Edited March 10, 2014 by k9sar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r3dplanet Posted March 11, 2014 Author Share Posted March 11, 2014 Oh, how very, very pleasing. I went with the spacer method and now I actually have a working horn and cruise control. Thanks so much for chiming in, everyone! -marcus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahardb0dy Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 Good deal ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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