Old steering wheel upgraded, all OEM

[garlicbreath]

I never have liked the older steering wheels, and don't like the "affordable" aftermarket ones, so I upgraded this weekend with a newer OEM wheel.
Took picks since it wasn't really bolt on. At least the horn wasn't.

The new wheel was off a 91 low mileage suburban.
Here's how it went.
Pulled the old one off using my steering wheel puller. The horn was the only thing different and it's required for NY inspections.

Some dremel work and a soldering iron was all it took.

Old steering wheel

This is the part you have to modify for the new horn to work. I cut it off with my dremel tool so I could solder a wire onto the contact at the bottom for the new horn button.

Snap the cover back on

This is the back of the new horn button where the wire attaches

Install new wheel, nut and snap ring, routing wire through the larger non tapped hole

Here's the new wheel with working horn. It's a little smaller than the original but feels better.

I have the old wheel if anyone want's one in good shape. It's off a one owner 87 suburban with just over 100k miles on it.

 

[b454rat]

I hate the Ferris wheels on these trucks as well. Too big...I use Caviler or Lumina wheels. They bolt on, don't have to change a thing. Never drive with two hands on the wheel. but at 10 and 2 there is extra padding and conforms to your hands. Smaller too so can crank it around faster.

 

[496truck]

You must not have gotten the horn wire for the new wheel? I pulled one of those out of a junkyard truck and it was a direct bolt on. I grabbed the wire too which had the "male" end that slips into the white plastic nub you had to grind off and locks in with 1/4 turn.

Anyway, It certainly is a much nicer wheel. Mine's better though cause it says GMC on it.

 

[diesel4me]

I had a Cavalier wheel on my 77 GMC ,I put a pair of bucket seats in it from a Mercury Topaz on a custom seat frame with tracks from the old bench seat ,and my knees didn't want to clear the steering wheel any more!..so I had to either lower the seats or raise the steering wheel to clear my 6'5" frame...putting the small Cavalier J200 wheel on was a snap and solved the problem without much work!..I kept the wheel & colum from that truck,still have the seats too!..

We found that many Ford & GM steering wheels will fit each other,some Mopars too-- at the junkyard--sometimes wed need to move a car someone swiped the steering wheel from,and we were kind of surprised that so many had the same splines,the doameter at the colum was the same,etc...not something you'd expect really..