How To: Replace steering wheel '97-'03 F-150
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Technical Article Contributor
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,002
Likes: 16
From: Central Coast, California
Fairlaner,
Excellent job! Nice pictures. Made it easy for anyone to follow.
One item to add. When you use the puller, leave the bolt in the shaft but unscrewed only one or two turns. Use the puller until the wheel "pops" loose. That way, if it takes a lot of torque, or the little plug on the end of the puller seizes, you'll bugger up only the bolt, not the shaft. It's a whole lot easier to replace the bolt!
Once more, nice write up!
Excellent job! Nice pictures. Made it easy for anyone to follow.
One item to add. When you use the puller, leave the bolt in the shaft but unscrewed only one or two turns. Use the puller until the wheel "pops" loose. That way, if it takes a lot of torque, or the little plug on the end of the puller seizes, you'll bugger up only the bolt, not the shaft. It's a whole lot easier to replace the bolt!
Once more, nice write up!
Good point ... when I pulled the wheel, I was concerned about damage to the end of the shaft, especially as the wheel took more of a pull to remove than I expected. The puller cap I used fit really well, touching only the outside of the shaft and centered by the hole in the wheel. You certainly don't want to spread the end of the shaft, or you may never get the wheel off.
Your suggestion is a better way to go. My only concern would be that now the puller is pushing against the threads on the shaft (through the bolt), instead of the shaft itself. With the steel shaft and bolt on our trucks, I'm sure this wouldn't be a problem, though.
Last edited by fairlaner; Mar 24, 2011 at 01:27 AM.
Senior Member
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 791
Likes: 0
From: Rocklin, CA
yes I had a plain grey airbag before (photo below) and the new one has the blue ford logo, was exactly the same, everything plugged back in the same way and is totally happy, I have no airbag light, the horn works, and the CC works so should be good to go! The new wheel feels nice too!
Original wheel & airbag:
[IMG]
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Ill try to add a photo of the new wheel as soon as I get a chance
Original wheel & airbag:
[IMG]
[/IMG]Ill try to add a photo of the new wheel as soon as I get a chance