Steering wheel change

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Introduction

This guide explains how to demount and install Jimny's steering wheel.

There may be several reasons to do this:

1. To repair/refurbish a worn steering wheel
2. To replace the air bag module or the horn button(s)
3. To replace the ordinary wheel with a half-leather premium factory wheel

Types of steering wheels

There have been three models of steering wheels used on Jimnys:

• 

  The 1st type used from 1998 to 2005

• 

  The 2nd type used from 2005 to 2014

• 

  The 3rd type used from 2014 to 2018

This guide currently refers precisely to the 2nd type.

The procedure should be quite similar for the 1st and 3rd types too, but it has not been tried on those wheel types.

Demounting procedure

1. Disconnect vehicle's main battery.
   • Wait at least 10 minutes after that before unscrewing anything on the steering wheel.
     • The purpose of the delay is to allow time for any residual electrical charges in the vehicle to self-discharge.
2. Lock the steering wheel with the front wheels pointing more or less straight ahead.
3. Mark the steering wheel's position in relation to vehicle's dash board / instrument panel.
4. Completely unscrew the two screws on the sides of the steering wheel.
   • In some Jimnys these are torx screws, while in others they are ordinary hex screws.
5. Pull the center air bag module gently one side a bit then the other side a bit, until it gets separated from the steering wheel.
6. Hold the separated air bag module carefully and turn it around so that its back side is visible.
7. There will be two wire sets going into the back of the air bag module.
   • One is a single wire connecting near the edge of the air bag module.
   • The other is a set of wires going into a yellow clip in the center of the air bag module.
   • Use a small screwdriver or a similar tool to gently disconnect (prise off) the yellow clip from the air bag module.
   • Use pliers or a similar tool to disconnect the other single wire from the air bag module.
   • The air bag is now completely separated from the steering wheel.
8. Temporarily store the airbag (carefully!) in a safe location where there is no risk of anything coming into contact with it.
9. Now a gentle ring/disc is clearly visible and accessible behind the nut on the steering column shaft.
   • The ring/disc should not be touched/turned to either direction!
   • Therefore, mark the position of that disc in relation to the surrounding steering column as soon as you can, so that you can return the disc into proper position if you happen to accidentally move it.
   • Beware that if you rotate the disc accidentally more than one full turn, you will have to count the number of turns back in order to return it in exact original position.
   • This ring/disc can snap if it is turned too many full turns.
10. Now loosen the hexagonal nut on the steering column shaft, which holds the steering wheel in place.
    • If I remember correctly, it is a 14 mm hexagonal nut.
    • Just loosen the nut a few full turns, but do not remove the nut from the shaft completely yet.
11. Pull the steering wheel towards you with a lot of force (and wiggle it if you must but just slightly) until it snaps loose.
    • This is usually the most difficult step, as usually the wheel just won't separate from the steering column.
      • There are additional guidelines further down below in the case that the wheel is stuck and won't come loose.
    • The still-present undid nut acts as a safety barrier here, as it will prevent the snapped of wheel to hit you in the face.
      • Without the nut, you would have to replace a few teeth as the part of this procedure too.
12. After the steering wheel snaps loose from the steering column shaft, loosen the nut completely and remove the steering wheel altogether.
13. Removal is done!

Additional guidelines for stuck steering wheel

What to do if the steering wheel is stuck on the steering column (won't separate when pulling it):

• The "classic" remedy for a stuck wheel is to bang the steering column shaft with a hammer while simultaneously pulling the wheel.
  • However, Suzuki's service manual strongly warns against using any hammering force on the steering column, as it is a collapsible modern steering column design.
• Suzuki has a special tool for elegant removal of a stuck steering wheel from the column.
  • The tool is nothing more than a thick steel plate with two threaded holes for bolts.
  • The intended method is - as you screw the plate down to the predefined holes in the steering column, the wheel will have to come off due to counter force.
    • This is a similar principle as when removing a stuck Jimny's rear wheel drum.
  • This tool can be DIY made from a thick piece of steel and using a grinder and a drill, but it takes some time to do it.
• A more elegant "chemical" solution is to spray the top of the steering column shaft (just below the nut) with some "WD-40-alike" lubricating chemical.
  • It is recommended to spray it in at least two iterations and allow at least 15 minutes between each iteration.
  • Then, after waiting at least 15 minutes after the last spraying, try pulling the steering wheel off the steering column again.

Mounting procedure

1. Put the steering wheel on the steering column, carefully aligning the teeth on the steering column shaft so that the steering wheel is oriented (in relation to the instrument panel) as it originally was.
   • The markers, which you were supposed to mark before steering wheel's removal, should help here.
2. Screw on the lock nut on the steering column.
   • It is highly recommended to use a torque wrench to properly tighten the nut to the factory specified torque of 33 Nm.
   • This torque value was taken from original Suzuki's service manual for type 6 Jimny revision (built in 2006) which has the 2nd type steering wheel.
3. Carefully bring the airbag module back to the steering wheel.
4. Connect the single electrical wire and also the set of wires with the yellow clip back onto the rear side of the air bag module.
5. Put the airbag module into its position in the steering wheel.
6. Screw both screws in the side of the steering wheel (tightening torque is 9 Nm).
7. Connect the main vehicle battery.
8. Turn the vehicle on.
9. Drive off into the sunset.
   • Drive preferably on a straight road to avoid using the steering wheel :)

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Page last edited on 19/07/2018 by user Bosanek