Steering Wheel Removal

[charbaby]

My sister and I both have '01 Lexus RX-300's. She will be trading in sometime before long. My sister has the wood grain steering wheel and shift handle option and I want to swap out her wood grain steering wheel/shift handle for my plain leather wrap wheel/handle. She is OK with this. My question is: Is there any precautions that I will need to take other than disconnecting the batteries on both cars? Will the airbag connectors in the steering wheel be any problem? I need some detailed information please. I have never dealt with airbag steering wheels before, but I am very mechanicaly inclined and have been working on cars in access of 30 years. Any help/advise will be appreciated.

Thanks,
CharBaby

 

[punisher]

Should be pretty straightforward. Disconnect battery for at least 5 minutes before you work on it, the air bag controller has a big cap in it to keep the system powered if a crash takes out the battery. Unbolt airbag module, unplug it from the clockspring (store it trim side up for safety) and grab your wheel puller.

 

[charbaby]

Thanks punisher. I just don't want the airbags deploying after I reconnect them. These steering wheels are extreemly expensive. I priced a wood grain wheel at the Lexus dealership and it was $2300.oo from the parts counter but, only a $300.oo option with the car, new!

 

[Matt_S]

You should check the airbag disable procedure from the factory service manual. Hopefully someone has that info. I don't know if I'd trust that just disconnecting the battery would be sufficient. The airbag may decide to deploy when you reconnect everything.