Adding Redundant Audio Controls - 2008
 

I just purchased a donor wheel from ebay... it was the right price, and I'll turn around and sell the shell and the switches when I pull the wires out.

I'm looking forward to the wheel getting here. I expect to be able to swap the wiring harness inside the wheel and then be able to add the redundant audio control switches. This should leave me with the impossible setup of having a black vinyl wheel with cruise and audio controls. ...time will tell.

Done, I'll work on getting pictures uploaded to photobucket and posted.

Very VERY simple to do.

Once you find a wiring harness that has connections for both sides of the steering wheel (I purchased a cheap donor wheel from ebay and pulled the harness out of it). You just have to swap the harnesses and you're done!

If you follow my route, take your donor wheel and remove the four screws holding the back plastic on to access the wiring harness. Take note of how the wires are routed ont he back of the wheel. Remove both switch sets and push the wires out until they are free of everything except the zip-tie hold down. Grab the harness on both sides of the zip tie and gently pull and wiggle until the zip tie comes out of the wheel. Do whatever you like with this wheel... you're done with it.

Now remove the steering wheel...

This procedure can be found in the workshop manual at www.motorcraftservice.com, or in my cruise control writeup.

once the wheel is off, do the same thing as you did to the donor wheel, only remember that you want to keep this one.

install the new wiring harness in your wheel, then reinstall the wheel according to the workshop manual.

Done! Now you can control the radio without taking your hands off of the wheel.

Another note. I now have the part numbers for the connectors that are used in these connections.

They are a Tyco Electronics part, that seem to only be available in bulk (digikey only sells orders of 2,000 or more)... if you know any electronics stores that have connections they might be able to get a smaller order... or maybe even stock the part. It is an automotive connection that doesn't seem exclusive to Ford.

Waiting to see the pictures.

Here is the full Album

Audio Controls pictures by TexasRebel05 - Photobucket

https://i551.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSCN0403.jpg
Donor Steering wheel

https://i551.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSCN0405.jpg
Donor wheel w/controls removed.

https://i551.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSCN0406.jpg
Donor harness removed from wheel

https://i551.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSCN0409.jpg
Current Wheel w/airbag removed

https://i551.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSCN0412.jpg
steering column without wheel... note the position of the clockspring, I turned the wheel back to straight before taking it off.

https://i551.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSCN0413.jpg
Left over Cruise Control only harness


I will take a picture of the finished product as soon as my order from Partsguyed gets here. I have audio controls without temp controls on the way... don't want to put up a picture of equipment I'm not using... I did use the w/HVAC control to check operation. The switches are fully functional.

Blonde? Really? I've tired the other flavors, even light. While I admit the smokehouse is interesting, I can't stick with anything long term other than Bock.

Anyway, do you have any measurements on the center shaft of your wheel, or info on the hole in the clock spring so we can figure out if any of this is backwards compatible?

Yeah, I felt like a 6pk of Blonde... I normally go the brunette route. The Bartenders here at the Dixie Chicken usually have one ready for me by the time I get to the bar. I'll have to call ahead if I ever want something different.

Backwards compatable? as in putting an '08-'10 wheel onto an older Superduty? I'll measure what's not on the truck, but I believe you'll have a roadblock issue with the airbag switchover.

The steering shaft appears to be a 3/4" hex shaft. I measured this with a tape measure (don't have calipers here) so it isn't gospel.

I never took the clockspring off, so I don't know what size bore it has, but again, if the connection to the main harness is different you will have trouble connecting an '08 clockspring to a pre '08 truck.

I didn't think anyone who could afford an 08 ever wandered into the Dixie Chicken.:confused:

If you have an 08 clockspring and 08 wheel, then making the wiring plugs work down the column should be the easy part. It might involve changing to a different radio, and adding some additional wires, but cutting off a connector and splicing wires is pretty easy. There's plenty of room in the older columns to run a few additional wires.

If we hadn't just put a fancy steering wheel in my wife's truck, we might do this in hers. Then again, I might have a project truck soon. My farrier just had his 7.3 stolen. Strange part is they actually just stole the 7.3 and left the rest of the truck sitting where it was. I've never heard of this before, but If I can get a deal on the body from the insurance company, it sounds like a fun project. The body is straight and there's no rust down here in Texas.

it might not be quite as simple as the wiring though...

for cruise control and the audio controls the buttons all apply different resistances to a reference voltage which allows more buttons to use fewer wires. This could be different than what was previously done in many ways... the most likely of which is that different resistance values might be used.

I believe that the '05-'07 ACM (Radio) is similar to the '08-'10 ACM so a conversion on these might likely work if the steering shafts and switch resistances are equal.

A couple of questions
 

Thanks for the writeup, been looking for this conversion for over a year....

A couple of questions:

1. Another note. I now have the part numbers for the connectors that are used in these connections. - what connectors are you refering to?

2. do you have any pics of the finished install?

3. Any issues with the A/C controls since you don't have the dual zone stuff? I have the same setup with manual HVAC.

Thanks so much.

The only place I found the connectors available so you could make your own wiring harness sold them at a minimum of 2000 pcs. That was 1999 too many for me... but you might be able to find an electrical shop with the right connections.

I will snap a picture on my way home today.

I do not have HVAC controls on the steering wheel.

TexasRebel,
Thanks for the update.

OK, so the connectors in lots of 3,000 you were talking about are if you want to make the harness from scratch.

I did a little looking and so you have the Bluetooth little phone button below the audio controls on the right side of the wheel then.

Glad I asked, some of the used wheels I am seeing have the dual HVAC controls... cool.

Thanks in advance for the pic of the finished wheel.

https://i551.photobucket.com/albums/...s/CIMG0033.jpg

haha, nope, guess again. I'm actually very curious as to how many of these there are out there... I've only seen one other one in a picture from some magazine (Car & Driver I think) but the whole vehicle looked like it was a computer model... This particular switch was about a month wait, but Ed was nice enough to track it down and get it to me.

Did the remaining wiring, from the clockspring to the head unit, already exist in your truck?

yes, it was already there.