Wednesday, September 1, 2010

DIY Installing Aftermarket Steering Wheel Corolla 93 - 97

tools needed:

small channel locks
19mm socket , ratchet , and 6" extension
flat head and phillips head screwdriver
torx 35 bit driver or socket
wire strippers
zip ties
butt connectors
female spade connector
spiral corded phone wire


1. unplug BOTH terminals on the battery , and KEEP them away from making any connection at all while servicing. now press the brake pedal for about 5 sec. now wait aprx. 5 minutes before touching anything. also make sure the wheels are strait , and the ignition is locked , and keys are not in ignition. alldata calls for 90 sec. for the backup battery of the airbag to drain , but we all know not all battery's are created equal , so be safe




2. remove you steering colomn cover by removing the two screws from the bottom . next locate these tabs on either side of the steering wheel , and pop them out from the back using a flat head screw driver.



3.now you have access to the three retainer screws (2 on left 1 on right) that hold in your airbag/ center piece. they take a "35" torx bit.



4.loosen these screws till they dont back out anymore . now use the flat head screwdriver to pull these screws out of their plastic retainers.



5. the airbag assembly should now fallout into your hand . at this point unplug the airbag connector from the airbag.





6.remove your steering wheel shaft nut , i used a 3/4" socket for this , but i think a 19mm will fit better.




7. use a steering wheel puller tool (part #09950-50010 or 09609-20011) or whatever puller you can find to remove the factory steering wheel.




i had to cross thread my puller bolts into the steering wheel because i did not have the proper thread pattern for the corolla. also , on a side note , if you get the puller super tight and notice the steering wheel is not sliding off the shaft , hit the steering wheel rim one good time w/ a hammer while there is tension from the puller on it. mine slid right off at this point. you should now be looking at this:



8. remove the 4 silver phillips head screws shown here.



9.remove the yellow "spiral" plate that you just removed the 4 screws out of.



10. now remove these 2 silver phillips head screws that hold the multi-function switch wire guide, also cut the factory zip tie on the upper end and "un-snap" the clips at the lower end.



11. follow the "yellow" wrapped wire back to the connector in the dash , and unhook it. also unplug the white plug from the yellow spiral cover (and let it hang , this is your horn .then tape up the yellow plug that is still on the car side of the harness. this was for the airbag. 1st pic is were the plug is , 2nd is tapped.




the spriral cover you just pulled off is just for the airbag wire , and horn wire. since your not running an airbag no more , you dont need this , nor can you use an aftermarket steering wheel with it. more on the horn latter.


12. now re-install the plastic wire guard for the multi-function switch wires , be sure you include the horn wire when reinstalling. also put a new zip tie in the place of the zip tie you cut. horn wire will be just hanging at this point.



13. now this is where the instructions that came with your aftermarket wheel comes into play.

the only other advice i offer here is to make sure you mount the aftermarket hub strait up so your wheel is strait. also , YOU WILL HAVE TO TIGHTEN THE PISS OUT OF THE NEW HUB TO GET IT SEATED PROPERLY!!! IF YOU DONT HAVE A NOSEBLEED BY THE TIME YOUR DONE , IT AINT TIGHT ENOUGH!!!

this pic below is a pic of the turing signal neutral cam. this must be pushed down by the aftermarket hub.(cam is spring loaded)



14.after installing you steering wheel per instructions provided with it , reinstall steering colomn cover.

you might wanna pull the cluster and remove the indicator light for the airbag lamp , because it will remain on as long as there is no airbag on the drivers side.

now for the horn.

the best way i found to do this , is to connect a spiral phone chord or c/b microphone spiral chord to the green horn wire , you cut from the white plug that WAS connected to the "yellow spiral".




coil one or two coils of the spiral wire into the hub , then put the appropriate connector to attach to the new horn button on the end of the spiral wire , in the hub.



now zip tie the green wire side under the steering wheel to the multifunction meter wires .



the spiral cord should now be hanging freely , and have enough play to turn the wheel full "cocked" in either direction. i will edit this w/ a pic shortly.

should look like this when your done: