How to fish wire through exterior siding and down into basement? (re: tips or advice?)

[jmk396]

I’ve fished a lot of cable through walls but I’m a bit unsure about this one.

I need to install a generator inlet (Reliance PBN50) on the side of a house but the basement is below grade so I need to fish the wire through the stud cavity and down into the basement.

Typically an outlet box is 2” x 4” so you have enough room to find the fish rod but the generator inlet mounts directly to the sheathing underneath the siding and the wire hole is only ~3/4”.

Does anybody have any tips or advice?

I can only think of two options:

1) Cut drywall inside house to help locate wire and push through inlet hole. Requires drywall repair and this is an older house so there is no paint to match the wall.

2) Cut sheathing outside below the hole. Requires sheathing repair/insulation.

Am I missing anything?

 

[jmk396]

I also thought of another way — is it possible to just cut a large hole for the inlet box itself? As long as I don’t make it larger than the mounting screw footprint …?

That way I would have a large enough area to find the fish rod but the sheathing would have a larger permanent hole.