Thread: steering column

Tweet

heres my newest prob, when i was removing the old electrical wires in my van, i cut the wires to the steering column, the signal and wiper wires, do i have to get a new column? or can i somehow fix it? if not i was thinkin of going to the local yard and pulling a column out of the the most similiar van, now will the plugs on the column connect into my new harness? do i have to buy a adapter? how will i know if they will fit and work properly? any input will help. thanks its for a automatic shiter on the column.

Your kit didn't include the column wiring? On the wires remaining on the column, is there enough length to splice new ends on to?

theres enough wire to splice im pretty sure, but how would i cover that up? that will look funny and that kinda dangerouse isnt it ?. and i havent ordered my harness kit yet, so i have to check if it does, im going with with probably a 12 circuit harness from painless. im trying not to crimp are splice any wires on my harness, thats the reason i ripped out out my old harness, the guy who put it together was a idiot, theres were tons on crimps all over and wire connectors! i mean like hundreds and i had shorts in mty van and stuff. so if my kit does include the wries for it, i would have to open up the top of the column right? to put in the wies to the column? or would they just connected to the old wires? well thats not possible, i cut the plastic connecter off,. (im a idiot) ill check it out. any thing else you might recomend that would help? thanks.

First ya should'nt have cut the connector off,with that being said all is not lost,most wire kits will have that connector on their harness ready to plug up to your column,
So if at all possible your need to graft the connector you cut off back on to the column harness ,but do not EVER use crimp connectors,only proper way to do this is solder and heat shrink tubing....
It's not dangerous at all to splice wiring as long as it's done right. Here a link that describes the proper process......
http://www.abrn.com/abrn/article/art...l.jsp?id=58827

HWORRELL is right on and the article he referenced is a factory approved repair. I checked the Painless website, looks like they provide wire to, but not including the column harness. Their connector should match your stock one. Do you still have the connector?

nah thers nothing left, all i have is the wires hanging out of the column, a very dumb mistake i made. i think id be better off buying a new column or getting one out of a yard. im pretty sure ima go to pick and pull and pull one out of another van. now how would i do this? is there any type i shouldnt pull? i was thinkin of trying to match up the length of the column to mine, and then unbolt it from the dash and steering box. ok now heres the thing, say i do that so ill have another steering column from another van, will the connector on the column work on the harness im getting? what im trying to say is will they connect?

Well then, when you order the Painless wiring kit, also get the steering column pigtail kit. It will all fit.
http://www.painlesswiring.com/webcat...-connector.htm

so i can keep my steering column? if i take out the old wires and swap in the new ones with my harness? i might go with this..., swapping columns kinda sounds like a pain in the ass, ill look into this

Is your old column in good shape? Switches, bearings, shifter all good? With it being a 74, it may be hard to find a better one. If you keep it, leave the old wires in the column, the kit has the connectors and enough wire to splice to. You might want to practice soldering on some scrap wires to get the hang of it. Unless your column is in bad shape I would keep it.

So far I've rewired the columns on my '69 Shelby with the tilt/pop wheel, '65 F100 with just a horn and turn signals, a Camaro or two, and the '57 Chevy. Our local parts store (NAPA) has the replacement harnesses, even for something as weird as the Shelby. They come with the replacement turn signal switch, the follower for the horn, and other wires as needed. Everything I've done so far is old enough that they didn't have the ignition key in the column, but I've got that '79 Trans Am to do soon enough.

All the kits have reused the connector, but the wiring was simple enough. The first one, I took some duct tape and attached an old speedo cable core to the ends of the wires. Applied a little electrician's wire pulling lube (skipped that after the first one - didn't like the slime), and fed the cable down the column. Just pulled it through and then reattached the connector.

You'll need the pin tool for your connector, and it sounds like you need the connector. That will probably be a wrecking yard item. If Painless uses anything other than the stock connector, you'll need theirs, but it sounds like they do the same thing - want you to save your old connector.

I've done the main wiring harness and underhood for the Shelby, and the same process applied to the bulkhead connector. Biggest challenges are that I'm a little color blind (had my daughter check my knitting to make sure I got the right ones where illustrated), and the sheet that was supplied with the harness for the F100 wasn't accurate. Good think I took a photo of the connector on the harness before I pulled it apart.

The connectors have the pins/sockets on the wires. You just have to remove the old ones, using a tool that presses the locking clip on the old one. Then feed the new pin or socket into the connector block until it snaps down. Shouldn't have to cut anything to remove or reinstall.

Good luck with it.