Replace a 2006 SR5 steering wheel with a radio control steering wheel

Hi, new here. I own a 2006 SR5. Has anyone swapped out the steering wheel with a Limited steering wheel where you can control the head unit and cruise? Can it be done successfully? Thanks.

 

Hi and welcome! I can't quite remember who but I know I have read one or two instances of steering wheel swaps retaining those controls. Hopefully someone with more specific info will chime in soon.

 

Welcome
I haven't done this mod but I do know that most of the wiring for this is buried in the column so it is possible. Chances are that the OEM radio will not have those cables connected through. Keep us posted on your findings

 

I keep saying I’ll get around to doing a write up on this but I never have. I can tell you that the controls will plug directly into the clock spring and then you need to run 3 wires from the back of the clock spring over to the head unit. One is a ground, and the other 2 are resistance wires. If you can, depin some old harness and slide them onto the pins pictured below.
Then do some careful trimming with a razor blade and you can make the old airbag cover fit around them.

I know this is super vague but maybe this will help a little. I did this to my truck back when I was doing car audio and had access to pinout diagrams. The colors of the wires below are arbitrary because I pulled them from some old harness. So don’t go looking for those colors anywhere. I also don’t know which wires did which functions because that picture was taken in like 2011.

I need to do some work this weekend and might pull some of the column apart. If so, I’ll try to get pictures of what pins on the clock spring I plugged those corresponding colors into.

 

I thought that @shifty` had a decent qrite up on this, or was that just for finding a compatible wheel?

Edit: found his thread.
Anyone swap in OEM Seqouia or LX470 leather steering wheel?

 

I have a few bookmarks saved for when I decide to attempt this, but can only find this one currently. I might not have renamed the other or organized it properly.

http://tundrageeks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2083

Edit: @Tundra2 has the other link I know I saved above.

 

My steering wheel controls are portable. Lol.

 

So, it's not a 60 minute swap. Dang. Was hoping it was easy!! Thanks for the information!

 

https://www.tundras.com/threads/1st-gen-steering-wheel-radio-phone-controls-info-dump.131492/

There have been cases where pre-wiring was true on '04+

But generally nearly all the info you could want is linked out from that thread.

 

Thanks from me too. My leather sequoia wheel also has the controls.

 

I still have the OEM controls that Assassin sent me as I ended up with the Chinesium controls on my final install if anyone needs them. I'll post a pic of what I have if anyone needs them. We'll keep passing them down so someone can make use of them.

 

thanks @shifty, got my old worn out and torn steering wheel replaced with the leather steering wheel from a sequoia today. Took less than an hour counting the time to discharge after disconnecting the battery

Unfortunately, I've got to go back in because apparently I did not align it correctly and now the steering wheel is turned quite left to keep it straight. I am sure it wasn't like this before. I went through great lengths to ensure I had it aligned properly, or so I thought

I didn't bother with the radio controls since I would either have to have a different horn/airbag assembly or cut the existing one. I'll worry about that another day. I couldn't tell if it was prewired since both old and new wheel's connectors plugged into the same size wiring connector from the steering column

This was quite easy. And like you I was easily able to remove the steering wheel without the removal tool. Not sure why I dreaded this little project so much. Thanks for the help

also ordered one of those Toyota emblem overlays off of eBay. I saw where they weren't being made anymore so I hope this is legitimate and works. only $19.

Old:



New leather from Sequoia:

 

Yeah, it doesn't show well, but ... if you look at this pic, you may notice a faint yellow mark at 12 and 6 o'clock on the wheel itself, it's washed out on the center post of the column though. A couple of things I always do when I know I need to remove steering wheel:

• Start car, straighten up the wheels, jiggle the wheel back/forth to center it, then turn off car.
• Neg battery cable pull, wait 5-10 mins.
• Remove airbag, mark steering wheel and its fastener bolt at 12 and 6 o'clock so the position of the wheel is known, both on the wheel and the bolt, at least within a tooth or so.

I pretty much do the latter of those three on anything I'm removing & need to keep track of where it's positioned, like for steering wheels and rag joints, or where it's tightened to, like for tie rod ends, or to monitor for back-out, like on lower ball joint bolts. Take a paint marker and mark a position on the fastener and part. Doing this, it's hard to screw up re-assembly.

If I were you, and you're positive you reinstalled the wheel 'off', I'd straighten up the front wheels to parallel, remove neg batt cable, remove the airbag, mark 12 o'clock position only on its flanged post/bolt (and only if the wheels are still straight), then line up the wheel as close to the proper position as you can.

My wheel has always been maybe one tooth off, and I've never gone in to fix it, nor brought it up during an alignment (b/c I have no idea if it's the wheel or alignment or what). But generally speaking it's pretty straight.

 

Here's a close-up shot. You actually can kinda see both marks at the 12 position, but the one at the 6 position isn't too visible because of the top nut.

Only need to mark it once on the center shaft and it's good for as long as it lasts!

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