Removing the Air Bag and Steering Wheel

jnuechte · April 20, 2016

Honestly dude, I would not take the risk with the clock spring. Like MWZotti was saying, the lights on his cruise control don't work with the new wheel and probably require programing. I know for a fact that the heated wheel does not need programming but it would scare me to change the clock spring out and then cruise not work all together. Its up to you and how invested you are in doing the swap.

I emailed Chris White again tonight to find out more on his "metric ton or wiring" statement. Frankly I don't believe that at all bc the clusters use the same 30 pin connectors not the back and the cluster and the radio does "talk" because if you change your measurements from U.S. to metric (or vice versa) the temp changes on the radio as well as odometer and speedometer on the cluster. I should know more about that later in the week..

I have the io3.... I did not realize so many WT's came with io4 radios. Did you have XM in your truck before the swap to i06? I have been looking at doing the io3 to io6 with carplay but I have not pulled the trigger yet. I want to do xm in mine but I want the OEM antenna on top and I don't know how you would get it up there without drilling a hole. Drilling the hole would not be the problem though. The problem I would have is if they wanted you to run a wire from that antenna to the door frame and then under the dash. Thanks of the pics though. Do you have CarPlay?

One more question. Do you have to pay for the navigation or is it free if you have the capability? I can't imagine it being free but i thought I would ask before doing it and realizing you have to pay for it, haha. Thanks

Yeah the more I think about it, the more I think I should just get the leather wheel without the heat. Avoid the cost of the clockspring, and fingers crossed it just works because I have IO6. If not all else fails I will do what was mentioned above where I just put the WT guts in the new wheel and I at least have a steering wheel that doesn't look like it was made by fisher price...

Yeah I will be interested what you come up with on the cluster. That would be sweet depending on the work/cost involved. Keep us in the loop with what you find out.

No I did not have XM in my truck. My IO4 was simply having bluetooth connection, I had a factory backup camera etc. I don't have carplay, but I think thats just a different BCM programming maybe... looks like the MVI guys do offer that. AS for the antenna, I had to hook into the factory antenna on the top of the truck for my IO6 for navigation purposes. MVI just included a splitter which I used behind the main display. Does yours not have an antenna at all? So IO5 has the "onstar" navigation with is fairly pointless in my opinion, if you go to IO6 it requires no onstar and is totally free. It works with no subscriptions to anything, and actually its a pretty nice navigation as compared to some of the others I have messed with in the past.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Would anyone happen to know the GM part number for the leather steering wheel WITHOUT the heat? (I basically want the 23278626, but without heat...)

jnuechte · April 20, 2016

I just swapped the steering wheel in my 2015 Silverado LT for the 2015 Silverado LTZ heated steering wheel. This was a direct swap and did not require reprograming of the BCM. This swap was super easy and only took 3 hours!!

I initially talked to the dealership and they told me it was not possible to do... Then I found the following forum articles and figured I would try the swap myself:

http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/topic/163179-removing-the-air-bag-and-steering-wheel/ --- Removing the airbag

http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/topic/105656-heated-steering-wheel-install-in-gmt-900-sierra/page-1?hl=steering%20wheel%20swap ---- Outlines the entire swap

The only items I bought were:

1. LTZ steering wheel ($223) ---- Part # 23278626

2. LTZ Clockspring (SIR Coil) ($140) ------ Part #23193462

The heat comes on only when I push the heat button. It goes off when I again press the heat button or I turn the vehicle off. This swap was easy and well worth the money!

http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/topic/179761-heated-steering/

I saw that ORION1123 posted that he swapped his LT steering wheel (with radio controls) to the LTZ with heat, and with the new clock spring it worked no issue. This really isn't good for us because we know that adding the heated steering wheel NOTHING worked, as in all the wiring is different. So if his was a direct swap then maybe the steering wheel without the heat will also have wiring problems...

Maybe I worry too much

MWZotti · April 20, 2016

http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/topic/179761-heated-steering/

I saw that ORION1123 posted that he swapped his LT steering wheel (with radio controls) to the LTZ with heat, and with the new clock spring it worked no issue. This really isn't good for us because we know that adding the heated steering wheel NOTHING worked, as in all the wiring is different. So if his was a direct swap then maybe the steering wheel without the heat will also have wiring problems...

Maybe I worry too much

Once you take the airbag off you will see that the airbag wires connect directly to the airbag and go thru the clockspring to wiring on the other side. This is basically how the heated portion of the wheel works. There is a pigtail for the heat element coming from the clockspring to connect to the module on the wheel. The control wiring problem lies in the 10pin connection to the harness in the wheel.

tmo · April 20, 2016

Yeah the more ....... GM part number for the leather steering wheel WITHOUT the heat? (I basically want the 23278626, but without heat...)

I will be doing the leather wheel when I get my radio (which i found out today may be sooner rather than later haha). Honestly, I don't care if f controls work or not, bc like you said at least it won't be like "fisher price" made it.

I will defiantly keep everyone in the loop. Just waiting to hear back from them. They only work on the weekend and rarely answer emails thought the week, but it has happened before so fingers crossed its soon.

As for the radio, no I don't have the roof mounted antenna. I have the io3 system so I have nothing, and I don't have onstar. I asked him today when I was talking with him about the swap but I still have not heard. I was actually talking with a guy today about him selling is io5 HMI and Screen to me, but now that you said that I kinda want the io6 haha.

Industrial Teacher · September 24, 2016

I would like to play around with the radio buttons. If someone has done the swap and did not use the buttons could I possibly get them? I would like the buttons with enough wire to test with a meter. It might be possible doing an aftermarket radio swap to tap the wires at the column and run a 3.5mm jack into the radio and get the desired functions. Radios such as pioneer use varied resistance to control from this plug so it would be possible to even add resistors and customize the functions. It would be interesting to try

Industrial Teacher · September 24, 2016

I have IO3 without onstar etc, 4.2 inch screen. I am looking to upgrade to a Pioneer 5200NEX using iDatalink. My truck does have backup camera.

If the plug in my truck is only using 6 of the 10 on the clockspring I have 4 available. If I replace the steering wheel keeping the original 6 in the same location. I am thinking I can separate the wiring going to the radio controls and just use 3 of the unused pins on the clockspring to pass through. In the steering column I can cut these wires and cap since they are not used anyway and send the 3 wires to the new pioneer radio. The only thing I would need to do is get the resistance values for each button to get them to function as I need.

This would bypass any need to reprogram anything on the truck for the steering wheel controls as they would go directly to the aftermarket radio. The iDatalink would still maintain the other functions in the truck.

Any thoughts on this process or any information on the resistance values of these buttons?

Xpensive Chevy · February 19, 2017

I actually spent about 45mins trying to remove the airbag on my '16 CC yesterday and was unsuccessful... Any more pointers out there?

dv8lad · September 29, 2017

Hey, Guys!

First post, be gentle. I need help finding a part number for a particular wheel. Im looking for a heated, non adaptive cruise steering wheel in black leather. The thing is, I am looking for the wheel with The short trim, NOT the longer "hockey stick" trim. I have a picture below to clarify what i mean. Notice the shorter lower trim as opposed to the longer, lower trim. Again, Im looking for a part number. Having a hard Time finding this specific wheel. Possible to get it in red stitching? That would make my Decade. My intent is to swap the blav

ck trim from my WT wheel onto this one. I have a 2016 elevation with all black interior. Im upgrading to a Katzkin Leather interior, Black with Red Stitching and was hoping to get a wheel to match.

chasjohn · August 2, 2019

I purchased a 2015 LT Silverado from CoPart. Hit in the front corner only, drivers side bag and the steering wheel bag popped.

I can get a replacement wheel bag, but I'm concerned that a GM dealer may not program my BCM since it has a salvage title.

I've seen them cheap on Ebay, but they offer no VIN #s. Do they need the VIN from the donor replacement bag?

Frankielozano214 · August 2, 2019

On 10/17/2015 at 10:07 AM, Harlech said:

As someone who has done this I understand the frustration of getting the airbag off, the instructions above suck ass so I'm going to tell you the easy way.

Before doing anything disconnect battery for ten minutes to discharge system.

1: remove upper column shroud, it just pops off

2: rotate the steering wheel until you can see the square hole up top.

3: insert screw driver at an angle you can get under the wire in the picture I have attached, pry that wire over the lock tab (lifting screw driver handle does this if you're under the wire properly)

4: The air bag will pop up, you don't even have to really pull, so don't hulk out

5: rotate the wheel until the other sides square is up, rinse and repeat

6: disconnect air bag, two connectors, pull out (away from bag) on the orange log clips, the rest of the plug comes right out.

Picture of square hole and retaining wire you pry to remove air bag.

I hope this clears the air, feel free to ask questions as I couldn't find good information on this anywhere.

-Kyle

No lie that shit was a pain in the @$$ trying to get it out, after I got one side off took about 45mins the second side took like 3mins!!! I recommend using small mirror and flashlight made it a lot easier to see what I was doing, a posed to using the phone’s front camera... Just bought a heated steering wheel so I’m gonna have to do this again hopefully the second time shouldnt be as bad now that I’ve done it before. First time was to swap to a leather dash with stitching glad I didn’t pay anybody to do it for me!

pgamboa · August 2, 2019

A little late but this video shows it the way that I do.

Thanks to @Tinkering Fox for putting it together!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Frankielozano214 · August 2, 2019

22 minutes ago, pgamboa said:

A little late but this video shows it the way that I do.

Thanks to @Tinkering Fox for putting it together!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk