CLOUDL1GHT
Senior Member
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2014
- Posts
- 851
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- 557
- Location
- Lone Star State
- Ram Year
- 2021
- Engine
- Cummins HO
I have a feeling some of you would be interested in seeing this and I have not seen a thread anywhere for it. If any of yall are like me, the rubber steering wheel that come in the express and lower-trimmed trucks felt very cheap and not very nice. I wanted leather. Soooo I started looking around on eBay and craigslist and found a heated leather steering wheel for a 2014 that was "used". The problem is I have a 2012 so I said "Ok it's cheap so lets try it". Here are the pictures and the end product. Sorry for the pictures not being more detailed as I always get caught up in doing the work and not stopping to take them.
So onto the project. This is what I ordered
As soon as I received it I took over my kitchen counter and disassembled it. This steering wheel looks brand new. Since I have a 2012 and aftermarket radio I cannot use the heated element nor the buttons on the back. That would be waaayyy too advanced for me. One thing to point out, I'm only taking it apart to make it match my black interior in a 2012 truck.
To get to this point, It was two screws and two torx bits inside where the airbag goes, two screws and two torx bits on the rear and unplug the connectors for cruise control and infotainment control. Now all that is holding the back in are the four contacts for the horn and the wire to the heating element. The horn contacts are removed by using a pair of pliers and unsnapping them from the back and I cut the wire for the heated element. This is what you end up with.
You DO NOT need to remove the back of the steering wheel. That is an optional step. They have the same connector I just did not feel like having buttons that did not work on the back of my steering wheel.
And the cut wire
Now onto the fun part: removing your old steering wheel. I used these two videos to do it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aO_nql1yerQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af0eIlrV8do
if you do it right it should look like this
BEFORE I GO ANY FURTHER: in the second video at 1:29 make sure you secure the alignment like he does. If not like me, you will get the TCS light and no working cruise control and will have to get your steering re-calibrated. That was $200 wasted
Now that the old steering wheel is off, obviously the new gold steering wheel would not go with anything in the cab. That's part of the reason why I took it apart. Take your old steering wheel and take it apart the exact same way and start swapping over the pieces. The only thing I saved from the new one is the buttons as they felt better than my old ones. They have the same part # and work great.
Here are where the horn contacts are snapped in
Example of what it will look like completed
Putting it all back together
Reconnect the airbag, snap it in, and you're done. AANNDD I forgot to take a fully finished product picture
. I will this evening.
Please tell me how I did on this write up as it's my first one so sorry if it sucks
So onto the project. This is what I ordered
As soon as I received it I took over my kitchen counter and disassembled it. This steering wheel looks brand new. Since I have a 2012 and aftermarket radio I cannot use the heated element nor the buttons on the back. That would be waaayyy too advanced for me. One thing to point out, I'm only taking it apart to make it match my black interior in a 2012 truck.
To get to this point, It was two screws and two torx bits inside where the airbag goes, two screws and two torx bits on the rear and unplug the connectors for cruise control and infotainment control. Now all that is holding the back in are the four contacts for the horn and the wire to the heating element. The horn contacts are removed by using a pair of pliers and unsnapping them from the back and I cut the wire for the heated element. This is what you end up with.
You DO NOT need to remove the back of the steering wheel. That is an optional step. They have the same connector I just did not feel like having buttons that did not work on the back of my steering wheel.
And the cut wire
Now onto the fun part: removing your old steering wheel. I used these two videos to do it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aO_nql1yerQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af0eIlrV8do
if you do it right it should look like this
BEFORE I GO ANY FURTHER: in the second video at 1:29 make sure you secure the alignment like he does. If not like me, you will get the TCS light and no working cruise control and will have to get your steering re-calibrated. That was $200 wasted
Now that the old steering wheel is off, obviously the new gold steering wheel would not go with anything in the cab. That's part of the reason why I took it apart. Take your old steering wheel and take it apart the exact same way and start swapping over the pieces. The only thing I saved from the new one is the buttons as they felt better than my old ones. They have the same part # and work great.
Here are where the horn contacts are snapped in
Example of what it will look like completed
Putting it all back together
Reconnect the airbag, snap it in, and you're done. AANNDD I forgot to take a fully finished product picture
. I will this evening.Please tell me how I did on this write up as it's my first one so sorry if it sucks
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