Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

The wire comming from the little hole at the end of steering box is loosing its insulation becuse of age ,I tried taping it up but its frayed where it comes out of the hole and grounding causing the horn to stay on ,I guess its time to rewire it with a fresh wire ,any advice on going at this ?
I am loth to take apart the horn ring and button at the steering wheel ,because Im afraid it wont go back together but I guess I'll have to ,
attach a new wire to the old one and fish it up from the bottom ,down from the top? any advoce on dismanttelling the horn button without trashing it ?

Much better to try and pull the new wire in when pulling out the old. Can pull from either direction with that method but some wheels need to come off to access the horn ring screws.

I don't remember how large the hole is at the box but any chance a 4 or 6" length of shrink tubing say 3/16 or 1/4 can fit over the bullet connector and still be small enough to go into the hole. If it can get inside the hole then only need a few inches to slide on wire above and below the opening.

I think I pushed my horn wire from the box up the steering wheel. If I remember correctly, it went pretty easy. Horn button comes apart by pressing the center and turning to the left. When you remove the wheel, keep the nut turned on a couple of threads so the puller pushes on the nut and does not damage the threads. I got my wheel off with a basic cheap puller from the auto store.

How is your turn signal stalk? If it is loose, now would be the time to tighten the nut on it (with some threadlock)when you have the wheel off.

You could try a piece of shrink tube that will slip over your horn wire where it comes out of the bottom of the steering column. Get a piece long enough to cover the bad spot and then heat the exposed end coming out of the column to secure it. This will work for a long time if your wire is not totally lacking insulation the whole length. Usually the wire will only fray where it comes out of the end of your steering column. I used this method on my 1948 sedan and it has lasted for 15 years with no problems.
Good luck.

No need to remove the steering wheel. The 3 screws that hold the horn ring to the wheel can be removed once the button is out and the wire will be right there.

The heat shrink sleeve sounds like a good solution.

I just had bought some heatshrink for another project ans was thinking I would put it over the new wire ,when I installed it .Ill try it on the old one forst ,I love retrotech !

horn wire replacement was a snap with all of the helpfull comments ,thank you forum!