949 steering wheel extension/spacer install thread (lots of pics)

I like the title says this is a thread that shows a little in depth of how I installed the spacer. I’m a very tall guy stand about 6’8”. As you can imagine this causes some difficulties driving, especially in this truck. I’ve heard other people who are not necessarily very tall yet have long legs can benefit from this mod as well. I’m not professional but I thought I would help I didn’t see that much in the app on how to put it in so I thought I would contribute a thread on it.

I’m no pro I just felt I could do the job. If you decide to do this please be careful and use your common sense. This is the steering wheel after all. I take no responsibility for any one dying Haha
First disconnect the ground from the battery!!!
This first group of photos is before just kind of showing the layout. There are 2 side panels on the column that need to be removed in order to get to the air bag retaining screw. The panel is removed as you can see. The panel on the opposite side is smaller and surrounds the wiper lever.


after you remove the two airbag screws, torx25 bit one on each side, you can wiggle the airbag/horn assembly free. The T25 screws will not fall free as they are in a plastic retainer that prohibits the from doing so.

These are the airbag connectors you need to take a small screwdriver and pop up the yellow safety tabs indicated by the arrows they pop up about an eighth of an inch once you’re popped up you can use your fingers to pull off the orange and black connections. There is a wire marked in the photo with a green circle that is the ground connector for the airbags that will need to be removed simply pull on it at the base of where the green circles are and it comes right out


These two connectors to the right will have to be removed using your thumb or a small screwdriver by pushing down on the tab up top


Once you’ve disconnected your airbag wires and the steering wheel button wires you are ready to loosen the 19 mm center bolt. Mine had a yellow mark showing how far to tighten it.


Before removing your Steering wheel you may want to Mark how it lines up with a piece of painters tape so that when you put it back on it’s not off a spline or two. I neglected to do this and it drove me crazy so I had to take the steering wheel off and put it back in the right position. Learn from my mistake please.

Remove your steering wheel by sitting in a driving position and slowly back-and-forth wiggling it towards you not too violently, you don’t wanna smack your face with the wheel when it comes off. If you loosely wiggle it without too much pressure and it comes right out.


Next install your spacer using the nut from the OE steering wheel to attach it. Note how I lined the Factory lines back up on the bolt. The yellow outline shows the bigger opening will be on the bottom well the smaller opening will be on the top. Also note the red X’s are where the Allen bolts will go. The blue line represents the etched line on the new spline that must face up. Also note the two plugs removed.


In this photo the new spline is installed and the red line is showing where the etching line on the side of the spline will be matched up in red. Next I connected the wiring harness that extends the wiring for the steering wheel controls. Make sure your 19 mm center bolt Is tight to spec.


The plug that is furthest right I believe it’s also for the airbag. It has to be rerouted underneath the steering wheel frame designated by green in order to fit properly with enough slack.


Make sure you connect your orange and black wires, your airbag ground wire, your steering wheel control wires ,and the additional airbag wire that is the furthest to right plug up top.

It will be a tighter fit but very doable once you connect everything position your airbag so that you can tighten the torx 25 screws and reattach air Bag. Replace your side covers and you’re good to go.


Pros- Increased legroom reminiscent of when I had my Sequoia. Arms more relaxed while driving less stress in my upper back. Also it doesn’t look out of place I thought it would look kind of goofy but it’s not bad at all.

Cons- it cost me 305 bucks. Turn signal and wiper lever or a bit further but I can still reach him he will just take some muscle memory to get used to it. Overall I think the pros Far outweigh the cons.
I hope this helps some people here and gives a little bit more clarity as to how this process goes. I know it’s not perfect and I’ll probably be editing it as I find errors In spelling or the way I conveyed I thought. Good luck if anyone tries to do this. I installed it on the 2021 tacoma.
Here’s a link to the one that I bought. I’m not affiliated with this company I paid for my spacer kit. This is just a tech tip that’s all.


http://949racing.com/Steering-Spacer-86.aspx

 

I applaud you sir!

 

Nice write up. That was exactly how I routed my airbag wires, too!

I kind of want to 3D print a valence to make the wheel to spacer transition not look so awkward, but meh, the motivation is not there!

 

Cool. Yeah I thought it would be uglier that it is so I’m ok with it

 

Awesome, thanks for documenting this, and taking the dive on the price! I too find the lack of steering column depth adjustment very frustrating. Was scared off by the lack of documentation, now I'll definitely reconsider it.

 

That’s why I did it. I too was a little turned off because of little info truth be told it’s straight forward and now you know it works !

 

Some tips to add:

- When removing your wheel, leave the center nut on loosely. This reduces the chances of you smacking yourself in the face when the wheel pops off.

- Be SUPER careful with the clock spring. Do not take it off. They are easily broken and are very expensive to replace.

- The spacer spline will not feel like it fully engaged when you first put the wheel on. As you tighten the center nut it will pull itself over the splines for a tighter fit.

 

Good tips Traction. Also the spline is not keyed to go in one way so mark where it’s at with a piece of tape or something or you stand the chance of putting it on a little off as I did and had to remove and re-align it! It felt like the alignment in the tires was of til I figured out what I did wrong.

 

Great write up!

They recently added a link for a Tacoma specific spacer. It looks like it's the same thing as the FRS one though.

http://949racing.com/Steering-Spacer-tacoma.aspx

 

Did this install today, thanks for the step by step guide!

 

I ended up removing mine. My wife has the seat all the way forward when she drives the truck and the wheel was too close to her as a result.

For those who have PM'd me, I have sold this.

 

I think I’m going to be in the same boat. It’s nice for me but makes the truck undrivable for my SO.

 

Hmm my wife is 5’6” and no complaints yet. But I really don’t let her drive too much hehe she has her own car.

 

So that thing is 55mm deep huh... Does it look like it can be cut down at all in size? I really only need another inch from the wheel and don't want to put the steering column mounted controls any farther away than needed.

 

Wanting to get this same extension on my truck. Question is, do you still have the full use of your telescoping out/in and up/down movements? I need another 1-2in on top of the fully telescope length to be totally comfortable.

 

Yes you do.

 

How much time for install involved all in said and done?

 

I did mine in about an hour. Redid it because I was off 1 tine on the alignment, doh!

 

Wow! That's very efficient...cool deal!

 

I installed mine but could not get the airbag module back in. The cables were too tight. I tried to move the cables, realign them etc. Nothing worked. How did you do it?
Right now I ordered a couple, aftermarket, clock springs and I intend to modify them to make a longer cable. (I didn't want to hack the OEM module).