Starting the transformation....

Chad H · October 3, 2005

Hey guys,

Well the truck goes in the local dealership next week for the following: door handles, tailgate handle, factory xm radio, 6 in dash cd player, steering wheel w/ controls, and coil kit harness. Below is the part number for the harness that I am pretty sure I need. I need someone to double check that and I was wondering if someone could help with the steering wheel itself. My truck's interior is "dark charcoal". I called the parts guys and he said their were 2 steering wheel colors and 2 steering wheels per color. The colors he showed were ebony and light pewter. But, both colors had 2 different steering wheels. One was roughly $200 and it had accessory controls(UK3) and the other was $430 and it said it was a premium steering wheel or something. I told him I would try to get a part number or some more info and call him back. I need your help on this bigtime. I need to know which steering wheel to choose from. And, last but not least. I am going to print the quote below and take to the service department to aid them in adding / activating DIC in my truck. Tell me if I need to add ANYTHING else.

You must replace the clockspring with the column harness. If you have a light duty pickup, you will need part number 26101829. This is for a 2 stage air bag. If you have a heavy duty, order part number 26101828. This is for a single stage air bag. If you are unsure, take off your airbag and look to see if it has 1 or 2 pigtails connected to it. 1 is a single stage, 2 is a 2 stage. GM has reduced the number of part numbers available to simplify things. Therefore, you will get a harness equipped with an additional 8 pin connector. This is for the steering wheel speed sensor for quadrasteer. If you do not have quadrasteer, just tape it to the column and don't worry about it.

Be careful when installing the harness, there are about 14 connectors, I spent 2 hours installing the harness and wheel.

Now the part which has been the most confusing. If your truck was not equipped with rpo code (UK3) which is redundant radio controls, your body controller will not recognize or (turn on) the radio controls. In addition the instrument cluster will not recognize or turn on the DIC functionality. Therefore, your dealer will have to call the Techline Support center. This is not the same as TAC. Techline is for software, programming...etc. They need to explain what they are doing and request a 2 VCI numbers. A VCI number is a new calibration code which will allow your controllers to turn on the radio and DIC controls. They need to get a code for the IPC and one for the TBC. They will then request info from the vehicle with their Tech 2 handheld device. They then take the Tech 2 to their PC loaded with TIS2000 and perform a SPS programming function using the VCI numbers. This will load the calibration into the Tech 2. They then take the Tech 2 back to the vehicle and load the new calibration into the vehicle. They will need to go through this process twice, once for the IPC and again for the TBC using the new VCI numbers.

I put this in another post on steering wheel controls but I am adding it to this one as well, I got the wheel for $75 from a wood trim shop brand new and the harness for $170 from gmpartdirect and had the dealer do the rest, The how to was passed down to me by someone who did it and I had it done to my tahoe and have a fully functional dic and controls with no problem just print out the info and they'll know what to do at the dealer

Clockspring harness = "26101829" Is this the right number I need???

Thanks for help guys. I just want to be prepared and have the right parts.

Thanks,

Chad

mudbug660 · October 3, 2005

You could get a steering wheel off ebay for less than $100. Your radio bus or something like that has to be reprogramed to use the radio controls. I'm about to do the steering wheel and I'm going to get another aftermarket radio and hook it up to the steering wheel controls for less than $50. Oh and I got a leather steering wheel for around $70. My radio has been crappy for a while so that mainly why I'm upgrading my friend's 04 is doing the same thing. That the right part # also.

pm26 · December 28, 2005

Does anyone know if adding redundant radio controls steering wheel to an '06 Silverado requires special codes as described in the posts above?

It is ridiculous that GM does not offer a new retrofit kit, because you essentially need only the steering wheel, wiring harness, and reprogramming. If they are so worried about the liability due to improper air bag harness connection, they could sell the kit as dealer installed option only. What is wrong with that?

As it is, it appears that they are reluctant to let anybody do this mod.