Anyone depinned the airbag connector?

[clemson4r]

Hey all,

I'm in the middle of swapping a later model 4-spoke steering wheel and airbag into my '96 which has the early model wheel. Splines and everything are obviously the same, the biggest difference is the airbag connector. My thought is to depin both connectors and simply swap the old connector to the new airbag so that it can plug directly into my stock clockspring. Has anybody had any experience depinning these? I've depinned other chassis connectors before but the airbag ones are a little different (go figure). There is little to no information about this (in fact I haven't found any sources that have swapped wiring) so any help is appreciated.
Pictures of what I'm talking about

Thanks
Max

 

[Brique]

I can't help you there, but I'm looking forward to what you find out!

 

[Mahalas]

Why not just cut the wires and solder on the old connector ?

 

[JamesDean91]

Why not just cut the wires and solder on the old connector ?

Because that would be to easy Lol..
Are you having trouble removing the connectors or figuring out what wire does what? Because they look the same colors to me.

How about just swap bags? Pull those 4 bolts and it comes off the cover right?

 

[zacattack20]

Why not just cut the wires and solder on the old connector ?

Not something I would do since it's air bag wiring.


Where did you get the steering wheel and airbag from? It would cost more but the better thing would be to get the clock spring too.

 

[Mahalas]

Most clock springs are not interchangeable.
If you make a proper soldered connection its more then good enough. I have 2 bypassed seat belts and 1 bypassed airbag in my truck and the SRS system is fully functional.

 

[zacattack20]

Most clock springs are not interchangeable.
If you make a proper soldered connection its more then good enough. I have 2 bypassed seat belts and 1 bypassed airbag in my truck and the SRS system is fully functional.

These clocksprings are interchangeable. The connector into the truck is the same. The connector into the airbag changed with the newer airbag/steering wheel.

And there is a great chance that soldering would get the job done, but I'm not chancing that something doesn't happen down the line. The wires get rubbed over time, the heat shrink/electrical tape breaks down and there is a short and the air bag blows in your face. Or even worse the airbag doesn't work when you need it the most, although the air bag light would come on before. I know that is being a little extreme but I wouldn't want to chance the 0.1% chance that it could happen.

 

[clemson4r]

Thanks for the responses guys. I don't really have an issue with soldering the connections, I would just prefer the cleaner and more secure use of swapping connectors by way of the pins. If I do splice the connectors, I will most likely cut and splice a connector from the clockspring side. There is far more 'slack' on this side and I don't end up with a perfectly good early model airbag with the connector removed.
[MENTION=88689]JamesDean91[/MENTION]
I am unsure if there is a specific polarity to this connection and the four bolts holding the center section on the bag are the explosive charge. DeathCougar was the individual I bought the wheel and bag from and he has been a great resource for information.

Overall I was looking for a way to swap the connectors without cutting and splicing. However, it appears it may be easiest just to cut and splice a new connector.

Max

 

[smithTR4]

Why dont you just buy the 98+ clockspring? no soldering and you dont take the risk of something bad happening like a airbag blowing up in your face randomly..

 

[clemson4r]

Just to update this thread (I will add it to my build thread as well). I had access to the male connector from the correct clockspring (clockspring had harness cut at junkyard). I soldered, used heat shrink, then electrical tape and more heat shrink to seal it off. The wires into the male plug were yellow and blue in both my early model and the late model I grabbed the plug from. Put it all together and it functions just great. One of the reservations I had in doing this was keeping the overall wire length the same so as not to change resistance. I don't believe it would be this sensitive but I wanted to take as few risks as possible. Either way, on to the pictures. If anyone has any questions, let me know

Max