91 Ls400 Steering Wheel Cover

[vyhanh]

Hi,

My son complained :chairshot: about his grey leather steering wheel which is badly scratched. Since it has airbag, I am not thinking of buying a new wheel. Does anybody know of a leather cover (preferably with wood inserts) ?

Thanks

VH

[silvermate]

you can send it off to american stitches to have it re-done with leather/wood. it is very expensive though

pep boys has a pretty good selection of of leather/wood imitation covers, that can look pretty descent, descent for a wheel cover anyway.

[vyhanh]

Hi,

Thanks for your quick reply. I looked at all the auto stores. I think that the wheel diameter is larger than 15" ? Also, because of the airbag, I don't think that it is safe to remove the wheel (at least for me)?

VH

[Econ]

Steering wheel removal with an airbag -is- more complicated, but far from something that you can't do. The airbag circuit on the 1991 LS 400 has an in-line backup power source that maintains power to the airbag for a little under 30 seconds (in case of accidents where the circuit to the battery is cut but the airbag isn't yet triggered). So, unplug the negative cable and wait 90 seconds to ensure disabling. In addition, you have to remove the wheel pad before removal (4 screws and a wiring harness to disconnect)

In all, you need a T30 torx wrench (common tool) and a steering wheel puller (easy to borrow from a Checker or Autozone). Installation is basically the reverse of installation, except for one alignment you have to do.

New steering wheels are over a grand at the dealer, so new probably isn't a good idea. But a junkyard would probably have a decent replacement. If you'd like detailed instructions on the removal/installation, feel free to email me at 2456Depew@comcast.net

Brandon

[2001 ls430]

I am thinking of replacing my 92 LS400 worn steering wheel too. Any more detailed directions would be greatly appreciated. Also, I read somewhere that someone replaced thier 92 steering wheel/ airbag with a 94 steering wheel/ airbag- anyone actually done this and are there any mods that need to be done to make this work? Thanks in advance!

Steering wheel removal with an airbag -is- more complicated, but far from something that you can't do.  The airbag circuit on the 1991 LS 400 has an in-line backup power source that maintains power to the airbag for a little under 30 seconds (in case of accidents where the circuit to the battery is cut but the airbag isn't yet triggered).  So, unplug the negative cable and wait 90 seconds to ensure disabling.  In addition, you have to remove the wheel pad before removal (4 screws and a wiring harness to disconnect)

In all, you need a T30 torx wrench (common tool) and a steering wheel puller (easy to borrow from a Checker or Autozone).  Installation is basically the reverse of installation, except for one alignment you have to do. 

New steering wheels are over a grand at the dealer, so new probably isn't a good idea.  But a junkyard would probably have a decent replacement.  If you'd like detailed instructions on the removal/installation, feel free to email me at 2456Depew@comcast.net

Brandon

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[Econ]

Hey - sorry, didn't see your reply in the steering wheel replacement thread until just now.

Removal/replacement of the steering wheel is a really straightforward process. Unfortunately, I don't have time right now to put together the walkthrough, but I will hopefully have some time this weekend.

I'll make sure to send the instructions along to you as soon as possible. In regards to swapping a '94 into a '92, I'm not sure if it has been done before (though I can't imagine that someone hasn't already tried). Provided that the harness for the airbag sensor is the same on both wheels, I can't see a reason that it wouldn't fit.

Clearance issues may exist, though, so you might want to take some measurements before swapping to make sure that you won't block turn signals, wipers, etc.