3rd gen steering wheel removal and leather re-cover how-to
So my steering wheel leather was starting to rot out from sun, lack of care and age. After 20 years of California sun beating down upon it's poor neglected hide – I decided it was time to do something. Maybe I'm a snob, but if my truck came with a fancy leather steering wheel — then that's exactly what was going to have to go back into it! But it had to be OEM quality and not some cheap (or expensive) cover that would make the wheel feel bulky or unnatural in my hands (don't know how people drive with those giant fuzzy covers).
So I considered just buying another used steering wheel in better shape, but I really didn't want some new "used" wheel that still had 14-20 year old leather either. Even if it looked good now — how long would it last? Then there is also the option of putting on a steering wheel from another vehicle, but at this point I didn't want to screw around with mixing and matching compatible wheels/airbags etc... There is also the option of sending the wheel out to some leather shop to be re-covered for hundreds of bucks – though sadly it seems that I am made out of flesh & bone instead of cash-money like my kids seem to think. Plus I would need another steering wheel in the meantime. So this option was a no-go for me.
Ultimately this left me with one real option — and that was to re-skin the wheel myself. Only problem was that I didn't know shit about leather aside from the fact that it's usually made out of cows and that fancy people are fond of it; oh and good leather is expensive too.
Through another forum member here a while back, I found a company that had a steering wheel kit with the replacement leather custom matched to our 3rd gen 4Runners – both the early 2 spoke and the later 4 spoke versions.
This isn't some generic one-size-fits-all crap from China either. This is a custom cut piece of leather for our particular trucks (might be from Chinese cows though – but I doubt it). Anyways, you get the point.
The price was right too at about $50-60~ depending options.
So here's the snag — or the "flaw in the slaw" if you will. It was a total headache to get the damn thing. I mean, it took a lot of back n' forth with this company before I got the actual product in my hands. Ultimately I received my kit around 40~ days after I placed my order. I was quoted 10 days though.
It wasn't quite what I ordered either as it didn't have a pre-stitch option that I payed extra for and which would have saved me a considerable amount of time/frustration and probably would have looked a lot better too. But honestly, after everything I went through to get it — I wasn't going to send it back as the company did offer to send me another along with a free return label for the first one but I opted for a $10 refund instead.
So if I am going to give an honest review then I have to be honest about my experience with the company too — good or bad. So I'll be happy to give out the name of the company via PM to anyone who wants it. Just be aware that it will probably take a month or more to receive – and may or may not be exactly what you ordered.
Ok now that all that bullshit and disclaimer is out of the way — let's get on to the pics and a "brief" description.
As I stated earlier, my old steering wheel was nasty and starting to rot out at the top. It looked and felt like shit so it had to go.
The first thing you need to do is to pull the steering wheel out of your truck. I'm told or I read somewhere that you can leave it in — though that seems like a sure way to screw it up since I found that it's damn near impossible to run needles with black thread through black holes on black leather (pretty sure there's a joke to be had in there somewhere). So I would recommend removing it to work on inside somewhere comfy with good lighting. Perhaps if you get the pre-stitching option it is easier to do on the steering wheel – I wouldn't know since I didn't get that option even though I paid extra for it.
Pulling the steering wheel is not difficult if you have the proper tools. There are write ups on this already so I'll just briefly touch on it.
Step one:
Disconnect the negative terminal on your battery! You will be working with the airbag (no not your mother-in-law) the other kind of airbag — so you don't want it to be connected to a power source and be set off in your face, as this could be bad for your face...unless you are really ugly — then it might actually be beneficial.
According to the FSM, wait at least 90 seconds after killing power to the vehicle before you start disassembly. I say give it 10-15 minutes in the event it has capacitors that still hold a charge. Plus you really don't want to become "that guy" (or lady) we all read about in the papers.
Step two:
Remove the #30 Torx screws on each side of the steering wheel (they are covered by plastic covers) 1 screw per side (sorry no pics). These screws are captive and don't come out. So just loosen them up so the air bag module can be gently pulled out to expose the electrical connections to the clock spring which will stay on the column (see pic later on of clock spring).
Step three:
Once you expose the clock spring connectors (yellow and white) gently disconnect them. The yellow one is all fancy & shit like some sort of James Bond connector with hidden levers and stuff. Take your time and don't force or yank on things; they will come out eventually.
Once disconnected, set the air bag (or steering wheel pad as Toyota calls it) aside with the "horn" side facing up according to the FSM. I'm assuming so that if for some reason it accidentally deploys, it will just pop out as it should and probably scare the shit out of you. However, if it's facing downward and it deploys — it will launch itself up into the air and possibly take your head with it. (probably a video on YouTube of this somewhere)
Step four:
Use a 19mm socket and remove the center nut that keeps the steering wheel connected to the steering column.
Step five:
Rent/buy a steering wheel puller (or just He-Man that shit like a brute).
Parts guy gave me the wrong puller when I rented one at Oreilies (my fault shoulda checked it before leaving store). But I learned that harmonic balancer pullers will work too — though it does sit at a weird angle. But I wasn't going back again to get the proper puller once I saw it would still fit. (Forgot to take pics)
Step six:
BEFORE REMOVING STEERING WHEEL FROM COLUMN — gently pull the steering wheel forward but NOT off the column itself because you need to make a mark on both the column and the steering wheel so you can re-install the wheel in the same exact orientation as it was when you removed it. Otherwise you will have a crooked steering wheel on your hands.
<—(See what I did there 
I was lazy and just made two small marks in the back of the wheel and top column cover. Don't be lazy like me though...
Remove steering wheel. The clock spring will stay on the column. Leave it alone unless you really like ticker-tape parades and confetti type situations. Then by all means have at it...
Step seven:
Strip off the old funky steering wheel leather. Wear rubber gloves cause it's nasty underneath! I used an Exacto knife and cut the threads themselves instead of the leather. Be careful not to slice up the foam padding underneath the leather.
Step eight:
Clean up the foam as best as you can and then fit your new leather over it. It will be tight. Line up the spoke on each side to the appropriate spots. You will also see where the two halves of the new leather are sewn together. They should be at about the 10 and 2 o'clock positions on the wheel just like the OEM leather.
Step nine:
Once you are satisfied with the proper placement — be sure to center the leather on the wheel itself so that the seems will meet in the appropriate place on the wheel all the way around.
Step ten:
Start sewing. I initially had visions of grandeur as I planned to do a fancy baseball stitch or a European cross stitch, but I quickly gave that idea up as I realized how much stitching was ahead. I went for simple and basically did a one-sided shoelace stitch. I'm sure there is a name for it but I don't know what it is.
I recommend looking up different stitch methods as I didn't really know diddly about stitching.
In retrospect, I would have divided the wheel into four sections and tied off where the leather is already sewn together so that the rest of the areas are smooth still.
I ran into issues using the two curved needles that were supplied in the kit. It takes a good amount of pressure to push the needles through the holes if you aren't in the hole perfectly. So using a thimble was a must, but thmbles don't work too well with curved needles because you are always pushing at an angle since the needle is curved.
I had to man-handle the needles to get them through the leather and wound up snapping both in my hands.
I dug out an old straight needle and was finally able to use a thimble to push it through. Much nicer in my opinion than the curved needles!
Step eleven:
Once you are finished stitching, use a little contact cement on the spokes to keep the leather stuck to the wheel since there are no stitches to keep the leather taught against the wheel where it bends. If you skip this step, the leather will float above the wheel in these areas and probably look like crap and develop a hole or tear very quickly.
I would have taken pics but I was not about to get glue all over my phone. It was hard enough not to get it on the outer face of leather itself. Use caution here.
Step twelve:
Trim off any extra leather around the spokes. I could of have done a much better job here especially on the back — but I was like seven hours into this at 2am and in no mood to screw with niceties.
Step thirteen:
(USE THE MARKS YOU MADE ON THE COLUMN AND WHEEL TO PROPERLY ALIGN THE STEERING WHEEL FOR INSTALLATION)
Reinstall the steering wheel and torque the 19mm center bolt to 37 ft-lbs.
Step fourteen:
Reconnect the two (yellow & white) airbag/clock-spring connections and then gently slide the airbag "steering wheel pad" back into the wheel making sure none of the clock spring wiring is pinched underneath.
Step fifteen:
Once satisfied with the airbag placement, re-tighten the two #30 Torx screws on the sides and torque to 78 INCH POUNDS (not ft-lbs) which equates to 8.8 N-M according to the FSM.
Step sixteen:
Once satisfied that everything is in place and reconnected/torqued properly – then reattach the negative terminal to your battery.
I sat in the passenger side while turning the power back on with the key – just out of an abundance of caution in case I effed something up. Figured it was best to not be sitting in front of the airbag...
If no cataclysmic explosion — go enjoy your new leather wheel.
** Finished pics in next post. Seems the forum wont let me post more than 20 pics at a time**
and as for the clock — that's a junkyard clock that I got lucky with a couple years ago. 
