MillerPKA
New member
Hey guys, long story short I had a quick fix to my steering shaft after knocking it loose in the desert, and it kind of came loose on the drive home. Luckily I was heading straight for an alley, and that alley backed up right into a car shop so I kind of lucked out. Was able to get an extended bolt to go through the spacer at least so I could get home and take a look at it.
In the process though I rotated my steering wheel and I heard a couple things inside of the steering wheel break off. GREAT. Get the truck home and realize the airbag light is on and my horn doesn't work. So yesterday I took off the steering wheel to figure out what the deal was. I apologize I can't take pictures right now because some asshat stole my phone, but I'll try and describe as best I can.
Once you take out the airbag you have to unscrew the actual wheel from the mount. Once that is done you are face to face with a white square unit that I'm pretty sure works as the actuator for the blinkers, etc. That's held in by four small screws. Once that is off and the steering column cover is off you're kind of left with the basic assembly. Staring straight into the assembly from the seat, there is a black plastic disc that can rotate and depress, maybe 1-1.5" diameter. On the perimeter of that disc were several black tabs. When I say tab they're maybe half the size of a tic tac. Anyways 3 or 4 of these suckers broke off I guess when I was spinning the wheel freely. What I think this does is back up into the airbag, so when I press the airbag cover in this black disc is depressed activating the horn. Not sure if these things also tell the system the airbag is installed, which would make sense for my light being on. I double checked the wiring, levers around the whole assembly and believe this was the only damage done.
I can go out and take it apart again for pictures if someone thinks it will help. In the meantime I'm all ears what I can do. If this is the extent of the problem, is that disc easy to replace? I didn't see a way for me to pop it out but only looked at it for a few minutes. My other option I'm thinking is to plastic weld or semi-melt the bases and reattach (they were pretty clean breaks) but my concern is having some homemade fix on something as crucial/scary as the airbag assembly.
Thanks!
In the process though I rotated my steering wheel and I heard a couple things inside of the steering wheel break off. GREAT. Get the truck home and realize the airbag light is on and my horn doesn't work. So yesterday I took off the steering wheel to figure out what the deal was. I apologize I can't take pictures right now because some asshat stole my phone, but I'll try and describe as best I can.
Once you take out the airbag you have to unscrew the actual wheel from the mount. Once that is done you are face to face with a white square unit that I'm pretty sure works as the actuator for the blinkers, etc. That's held in by four small screws. Once that is off and the steering column cover is off you're kind of left with the basic assembly. Staring straight into the assembly from the seat, there is a black plastic disc that can rotate and depress, maybe 1-1.5" diameter. On the perimeter of that disc were several black tabs. When I say tab they're maybe half the size of a tic tac. Anyways 3 or 4 of these suckers broke off I guess when I was spinning the wheel freely. What I think this does is back up into the airbag, so when I press the airbag cover in this black disc is depressed activating the horn. Not sure if these things also tell the system the airbag is installed, which would make sense for my light being on. I double checked the wiring, levers around the whole assembly and believe this was the only damage done.
I can go out and take it apart again for pictures if someone thinks it will help. In the meantime I'm all ears what I can do. If this is the extent of the problem, is that disc easy to replace? I didn't see a way for me to pop it out but only looked at it for a few minutes. My other option I'm thinking is to plastic weld or semi-melt the bases and reattach (they were pretty clean breaks) but my concern is having some homemade fix on something as crucial/scary as the airbag assembly.
Thanks!
