3 Essential Mods for Aftermarket Steering Wheels

To preface this, I'm writing this as if it is specific to the First Generation Tacoma platform. This is likely adaptable to all the newer generations of Tacoma, but I would not know for sure.


PXL_20221229_003413078.PORTRAIT by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

I've wanted an aftermarket steering wheel for quite sometime and I think they look awesome, but having to trade-in the functionality of my cruise control and dealing with the airbag light on 24/7 just wasn't worth it to me. I know like many, that is the biggest deterrent to getting an aftermarket steering wheel, so let's fix that. I'm going start with the horn seeing as that would be the easiest one to tackle.

For starters, you do actually need 1 thing before you can get a functional horn. Presuming you have a steering wheel with a horn button and the proper hub adapter with a copper backplate then all you'll need a copper horn shoe. I ended up getting this one from Honda and it works basically perfect with very minor tweaks.

P/N: 35259-SH3-A02


PXL_20230123_233222993.PORTRAIT by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

I ended up cutting down the screw that originally held down the clock spring and was basically able to bolt it up and put a few minor bends in the horn shoe and it works perfectly.


PXL_20230123_233250044.PORTRAIT by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

As for wiring up the horn, this green/red wire is what completed the circuit for the horn. I was able to get add a little bit of extra length of wire and a male spade connector to connect to horn shoe and that completes the horn circuit. Lets move on to cruise control since that's the one took awhile to figure out.


PXL_20230124_002038968.PORTRAIT by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

Mounting the cruise control is really what took the most amount of time. There are a few aftermarket solutions that just put a big piece of aluminum on the face of the steering column, but I've never liked the way it looks. I wanted this to look semi-OEM. So mounting inside the steering column and cutting a hole was the solution.


PXL_20230603_050141242 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

Fortunately, wiring is easy. Refer back to the previous image where I show off the horn wiring and you'll also see the wiring for the cruise control unit. Otherwise, it's white/black wire to white/black, and red/black to green/yellow and everything works as usual. I'm still working on a final version of this bracket, but for the time being, I ended up bolting it up to the where the clock springs attaches and building a small metal bracket up to the bottom of the unit to help brace it and keep it from moving. There is one small modification you'll have to do to the cruise control unit and that is remove one of the original mounting points on the left hand side. I don't have a picture, but it'll contact the aftermarket wheel hub when you try and locate the unit where I have.

Let's wrap this up with the air bag light. First off, you're going to need 2.2ohm resistors in order to get the light off. I got mine off Amazon for cheap.

Link for them:

$7 E-Projects 10EP5142R20 2.2 Ohm Resistors, 1/4 W, 5% (Pack of 10)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DXOAM9Y

You'll be looking for this little yellow connector that was originally hooked up to the clock spring for the old air bag.


PXL_20230417_193639422 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

There's a few ways you can handle these 2 wires where you're going to plant the resistor. You can opt to leave the wires long and put the resistor in the steering column, or do as I do and cut the wires back into the behind the dash. It's a little more work, but it help gets a few wires out of the steering column.


PXL_20230417_193659619 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

These are fairly easy to install as well. I also picked up some solder self sealing connections for this. Shrink tube this and tape it out of the way, and you're all done. Light should remain off from here on out.


PXL_20230417_194448634 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

That wraps up pretty much everything. I'm pretty happy with how everything came out. Hopefully this helps someone figure out the problems I ran into as well. It goes without saying, if anyone has any questions, then please just ask away. I'll try and respond within a timely fashion.

 

Nice, detail write up. Saving for future use.

​

 

Do you have pictures of how you mount the CC switch to the column?

 

I do not, but I can get one when I'm working on the truck this weekend.

 

Sweet.

 

@02hilux

Added a picture of the cruise control mount for reference to the main post

 

Thanks for the write up. I just got my steering wheel the other day

 

Great stuff, I used some 10ga copper wiring I had laying around the house for the horn. Flattened one end into a the shape of a male spade terminal connector and then had a female spade connected wired into it. Mounted it in the same bolt location as you and bent it in a similar fashion. The cruise control was too tricky and I removed it since I bought a windshield wiper reservoir that took place of it too but now seeing how you've done yours, I might install it back now. For the airbag, I removed the light bulb along with the seatbelt bulb behind the dash. Would doing the resistors provide any other benefits?

 

Great choice!

 

Nice! I have tan interior too that’s why I went with wood grain. Gives me an idea of what mine will look like.

 

The wheel I bought was an older one so it's a bit more light-orange, assuming yours is the newer mahogany one which is more a reddish-brown. I've owned both and both will look great with the tan interior.

 

I'm strictly using he resistor for turning off the air bag light.