Looking at replacing your worn out 80 Series Steering Wheel ?
Not many options out there except aftermarket stuff that's either too small or too ugly.
My solution was a New Hilux Wheel.
I wanted a Factory look aswell as a wheel with the same diameter 380mm approx.
So does it fit....Hell yeah...Bolts straight on.
Just a small mod to do for the Horn Pad to get the horn to work and that's it....Forget about the AirbBag, cause that's just not gonna happen here.
You can get Hilux Steering Wheels on Ebay/Wreckers anywhere from $100 upwards. You will also need a Horn Pad for the centre.
Most of these are airbag style.
I picked up this steering wheel, Brand New on Ebay for $100 still in its original box.
Horn pad/Airbag $100 New aswell.
For $200 I'm happy as....
Hers a Pic of the 2 differences.
Heres the Mod for the Horn to work.
On the back of the Original wheel there is a brass ring that needs to be popped off and put onto the new wheel. This is the contact ring for the horn circuit.
When you have your wheel off you will see a small brass pin sitting in the steering coloum near the spline. This is the supply 12vdc for your horn.
Pop the ring off the old wheel ( Try not to bend it ). Its just held in with plastic tabs.
You need to get this to fit the Hilux wheel as per image below. ( note, I have already removed it off the old wheel in this image and put it on my mod on the new Hilux wheel ).
Problem is theres nothing on the Hilux Wheel to fit this to. So heres what you do.
Grab a piece of Timber say 12-15 mm thick , you may need to make 2 depending on how thick your timber is. Cut with a hole saw a piece 85mm in diameter approx. It just needs to be slightly bigger than the brass ring and tabs.
So you now have a small round piece of timber in your hand. You then cut a centre hole 47mm in the middle. ( approx. )
Should look like this sample below. ( this was a test piece only ).
I actually used 5mm MDF and cut 6 pieces and glued them together. I have a Laser Cutter so it was easier for me to do that than the Hole Saw.
Whatever you used you want the ring/s to fit over the spline shaft so that when its on the ring is level with the top of the spline shaft.
if its too low the contact pin may not reach the ring when the wheel goes back on.
Then drill a hole through the piece you have made so the wire on the ring will pass through the ring. I think I used a size 10mm drill bit.
I did the hole at the bottom..... DONT DRILL THROUGH THE RING !!
After this I painted it so it would not suffer any moisture issues.
Then screw the the Brass ring on to the piece you made so its dead centre. Screws are on 5mm in length.
When its done it should be level with the top of the spline as per images below.
To secure the ring to the spline I screwed 2 screws through 2 unused holes on the other side of the steering wheel into the ring.
Make sure there not too long as they will go through you timber and hit the ring and warp it. It simply just sits there. It doesn't need to be held on with cilly amounts of screws or glue.
Image of where the 2 holes are in image below.
That's it. Go put it back on your car. Connect the horn wire from your brass ring onto the earth pin on the horn Pad.
In the image below I haven't put the Airbag/Horn Pad back on yet as I was doing some other stuff in the steering coloum.
I actually removed the airbag itself from the horn cover/pad assembly as I don't need it ( 4 screws ) and it wont work on my car anyway.
Will post an imgae later.
You know will have a working Horn Pad and good looking wheel on your Cruiser.
The auto blinker off works awell ( when you turn the corner and your blinker turns off )
Any questions feel free to ask.
