Was driving down the road today. Suddenly, when I turned, the truck electrical power died. It did it 3 times today. Two times it came back in about 20 sec. The last time it was 30 min.
When I say died it was as if everything disconnected and engine died immediately. Even panel lights and all gauges went dead. The third time I was getting a machine gunning click from a relay in the fuse box.
I suspected there was something to do with the steering column so on the 3rd time I removed the key ignition and the column cover. After replacing the ignition and smacking the column a little the electrical came back. I drove home and am now parked.

What could this be? Is there a way to check it?

Note: Two years ago there was a strip of something dragging inside the column. It was interfering with turning the wheel and hanging out a bit. I pulled it out noticing it was wound around the column. Not sure what it was but it is about 1/2" wide and a few feet long and orangish in color. (maybe an insulator?). Not sure if that has anything to do with this problem but wouldn't mind if someone knew what it was. Autozone guys didn't\

Any help is appreciated.
Thanks