Horn button help

[FreightTrain]

Ok,I decided today to take the horn button out to see why it worked some times and some times not.When I pulled the retainer ring thing out I found some critters living in there.Looked like Tiny little Termites.I pulled the button out(Oops) and found everything in there scaled with rust.Now,how to I get that wire out so I can hook up a new button?It is way down there and when I pulled on the button it just disconnected from the packard connector.I think I screwed up.....

 

[cranetruck]

The wire inside the steering column goes to the horn. It is grounded when you hit the horn button. Now you can figure out the rest.

 

[alphadeltaromeo]

Have the exact same issue...pulled the button last night and found that it was previously "rednecked" with two crimps to join some wiring. I'm going to attempt the fix today...pulling the wire out from the bottom and then use some stiff wire to push up the column...to be used at a fishtape of sorts. I'll letcha know how I get on with the fix.

 

[Recovry4x4]

Andy, if you haven't done so already, try to attach a string to the wire you're pulling out, you can use that to draw the new wire back in. The wrecker doesn't even have a wire in it. I'll have to use mechanics wire to fishtape the NOS horn wire I got on Ebay, back up the column.

 

[alphadeltaromeo]

Solved...

I solved the issue with the horn. There were two problems with it. First, the wire inside the column was tore up pretty good...multiple splices and disconnected. Secondly, the power lead to the solenoid had minimal voltage and not the 24v necessary.

So, I pulled the original wire from the column out the bottom of the steering box and put a long piece of stiff wire up the column from the bottom of the box. I then taped the new 14 gauge to the stiff wire and my boy helped feed it as I was pulling from the bottom. Note: There is a rubber plug at the bottom of the steering box that needed to come out as well.

The wire pulled very easily and I spliced everything back together, putting the rubber plug back where it belongs. Because I didn't have voltage feeding the horn, I spliced into the low-beam headlight wire and supplied the necessary 24v to the horn solenoid. I don't like this setup, but that was the easiest way of resolving the issue. The horn works like a charm now

As another note: I'm in search of a front replacement wire loom. I'll search ebay, but if any of you fine MV folk can give me a tip on where to get one, I'll be happy to take the tip.