How to Remove stock steering wheel and install aftermarket wheel on 95-01 Explorers

I finally did it. I was able to install an aftermarket steering wheel on my 98 Explorer.

First lets start off with the parts I bought to make this work.
-Grant installation kit (Part #3289)
-Momo steering wheel
-Billet aluminum hub that goes from 3 bolts to 6 bolts (Made by Kartek)
-Steering wheel quick release (Made by NRG Innovations)

Now removing the steering wheel.

1) I first started by centering the wheels and steering wheel. Then I disconnected the battery. This is a must since you will be removing the air bag and you don't want that to go off by mistake.

2) I removed the plastic circles from the sides of the wheel and then removed both bolts which frees up the air bag.


3) Now pull the air bag out and disconnect the electrical connector on the back side. And then set the air bag aside in a safe place.






4) Next loosen up the center bolt with a #50 Torx.


5) Then you will need to use a gear puller to pop the steering wheel off the shaft. (seeing that the Explorer doesn't have two holes to use a traditional steering wheel puller). Then disconnect the black electrical connector thats on the right. Now you can pull the wheel off the shaft.




6) Now you will need a phillips and flat head screwdrivers. First start by removing the 3 screws that are located on the bottom of the plastic column.


7) Then there are 3 plastic clips on the backside that hold on the plastic disc. Pop those up and pull that off the shaft as well.




8) Now for this part you decide how to remove the wires to remove the disc from the column. I just cut the wires off but thats because I have plans to rewire the horns a different way.

After all this the column should look like this.




Now this is how I installed my steering wheel and the parts I used. This is where it got tricky and I had to do some fabbing of the billet aluminum adapter I got from Kartek.

2) Ok if you look at the Grant adapter I used there is a spot that says TOP with an arrow. Now to get this to work on 95-01 Explorers that arrow will need to be pointing to the left not on the top like it should. Now with it pointed to the left slide the adapter onto the shaft.




2) Then I took the billet adapter and lined it up to where one of the 6 holes was in line with the yellow dot which is the stock center marker. After that I marked where the 3 bolts should be on the adapter. Then with a good eye and a lot of measuring I marked and drilled 3 new holes so that the wheel would be centered. (The smaller 3 holes are the ones I drilled). (On a side note I also redrilled and retapped the 6 holes to fit a 1/4"-20 bolt due to this being my race truck and the bolts that were given didn't look strong enough).




3) After I was done fabbing the adapter I then went back to the Grant hub and placed the black cover over it. Then I replaced the Torx bolt and tightened and torqued it to specs.


4) Then I bolted on the billet adapter making sure one of the 6 holes was top dead center.


5) Next I bolted the bottom half of my quick release to the billet adapter. (I also had to redrill the 6 holes on this part so I could fit a 1/4" bolt thru).


6) Then I bolted the Momo steering wheel to the top half of the quick release.




7) Now I just installed the quick releases together and bam its done.

This is what it looks like when I was all done.







Well after a lot of trial and error and a lot of wasted money in trying different parts and trying to mod parts to fit. That was the final result. I am very happy on how it turned out.

**Disclaimer** This is how I got the steering wheel on my 98 Explorer other years maybe different. Also this type of mod needs to be done right and by someone who knows what they are doing. Due to the fact that you are changing the steering wheel which could lead to major safety issues if done wrong. And deleting the air bag from your Explorer is also a major safety issue. This mod is meant for OFFROAD purposes only and is suggested to not be completed on a daily driven truck. Oh and I am not held liable if you attempt this mod as I am warning you not complete this mod due to possible safety issues. **Disclaimer**

thats a neat trick!

what do you do about cruise control switches?

that would be the only thing i wouldnt like-to loose the cruise control. but he said its for offroad rigs not dds so it really does not matter. nice install

Awesome looking wheel.

im sure you could re-route the wires to the dashboard and put in your own switches

I've been thinking about doing this for awile now, my truck never had cruise, so that's not a problem I would like to keep the horn in the steering wheel though.

Are the Air bags worth anything

Pre 95-97 Ranger has a optional passanger air bag, so you can still find the dummy plastic passanger air bag cover.


Also does your air bag light stay on now?

For cruise control just rewire it all and install switches.

I have a horn on my Steering wheel also its the middle button that says Momo I just didn't wire it up yet. The quick release has internal wires which allows the horn to still function.

And yes the air bag light stays on but it doesn't bother me cause I have been looking at the ABS light thats on for a long time due to me disconnecting the ABS system.

Won't you run into problems on your next inspection without the airbag? Or is it just emissions where you are?

looks awesome

is there a way to turn the airbag light off

No there's no inspections in CA just SMOG. Also my Explorer is going to be used mostly offroad.

As far as the air bag light I guess all you can do is just remove the light bulb in the instrument cluster.

I think if you take the bulb out an alarm will randomly go off while you're driving.
When I bought my explorer the light was on and somebody had removed the bulb, I drove around with it beeping for almost a week until I took it to a machanic it was driving me nuts.
So you'll probably have to figure out a way to disable that too.

trevell407 said:

I think if you take the bulb out an alarm will randomly go off while you're driving.
When I bought my explorer the light was on and somebody had removed the bulb, I drove around with it beeping for almost a week until I took it to a machanic it was driving me nuts.
So you'll probably have to figure out a way to disable that too.

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meh i pulled the speaker out of the ding ding box i hated how i couldn't have my key in the ignition listening to the radio and working in the door panel or cleaning and stuff. i did it on my t-bird too cause the lock cylinder was messed up and would ding every time i opened the door

Xan said:

meh i pulled the speaker out of the ding ding box i hated how i couldn't have my key in the ignition listening to the radio and working in the door panel or cleaning and stuff. i did it on my t-bird too cause the lock cylinder was messed up and would ding every time i opened the door

Click to expand...

Could you PM me and tell me how you did that. I can't stand that ding noise.

Horn

How did you rout the steering wheel horn or have you not done that yet.? I am currently in the process of doing so but having issues.

I was not going to run the horn wires to the steering wheel. When I put a custom dash in I am going to run a push button on the dash for the horn.

E-rock said:

is there a way to turn the airbag light off

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Remove the bulb.

genericusername said:

Remove the bulb.

Click to expand...

No. See the post above. When you remove the bulb, the module knows it and starts beeping at you all the time.

Nice wheel...and cruise switches should be easy to mount up on the console, dash, etc. using some nice rocker, momentary switches. But losing the airbag is a deal breaker for me.

Yeah, that sure looks nice, but I have the steering wheel with all the controls on it. I would hate to lose that, I love those steering wheel controls. LOL

Thank You for this tute. i just did this but i used a grant wheel. it almost lined up perfect even with the offset adapter(top arrow to side). but i couldnt live with almost perfect so i drilled new holes in the wheel adapter (not hub adapter) to get it perfectly straight.