It does!

Did you have to get a whole column or just the wheel? I've been so busy that I haven't tried to sell the remaining column parts, but I can't imagine it'll be an easy sell.

 

Here's another quick update:

Navi wheel is working great, and I absolutely love it! Still don't have radio controls, but I'm mostly over that. It would be nice to have volume controls, but it won't work with this apparent Escape 6-CD unit that was installed in place of the original single CD.

Anyway, we got the '05 out of storage this summer to put a few miles on it and run the old fuel out. Well it turned into about 2000 miles total, and those 2000 miles made me quickly realize three things: It needs a front ball joint (other was replaced already), I'm having a hard time being without the Navi wheel with the wood, and I can't stand driving it without a 5 Star tune on!

Well, the ball joint in on the back burner as is 5 Star. I mean, they all should be since it's getting stored away again, but I can't help myself. I saw a thread a while back that showed a tan Navi wheel in an '05 Ex with the black wheel/dash. I agree, I think it looks alright with the EB interior, but that's not my situation. With the monotone of the Limited, I didn't think I'd like it. I've done a lot of research on the Lincoln Blackwood and decided a steering wheel from one of those would really look nice, as I read about back in that thread from a while ago.

Earlier in the summer, I contacted most of the places listing them on car-part.com. Maybe eight total. Most wouldn't give me the time of day, and it got very discouraging. For an Ex with only (now) just shy of 58k and no plans of selling, I didn't want some piece of junk wheel to put on. Some said it was sold, some found it and it was junk condition (wood cracked?), and some just wouldn't answer any of my questions. Well the weekend before last, I decided to search again, and I found two more choices. I called them both last week. One couldn't tell me any mileage or condition other than it came with a six month warranty, which is great for the column portion I wouldn't use. The other, an auto salvage place out of Yuma, AZ, was very helpful and told me it was in good condition and confirmed it did have the caps behind the wheel (not sure how close in color the two wheels are). Even though I would have liked to see a picture first, I bought it sight unseen for $120 shipped. It is just a wheel, but at least I'm not left with a bunch of parts that I don't need and it's close to what the other column cost me complete.

The main reason for my urgency is that there were only 3,356 Lincoln Blackwoods ever built. This means that since they're already 10 model years old, there's fewer and fewer on the roads now and the number will just keep dropping. I figure it will just be harder and harder to find a Blackwood wheel, let alone a nice one, if I wait much longer.

I hoped it would arrive last Friday, but it didn't, and now I'm not home at the moment. My wonderful family was nice enough to open it up for me and get some pictures so I can see what exactly I bought. To my surprise, it looks in better condition than having 134k on it. It does appear to have been in a head-on collision because the white clockspring plug is broken partly, so hopefully that won't be a problem. It does look a little dirty, especially the buttons, but those should clean up just fine.

Here are some pictures, for those of you who have never seen a Blackwood steering wheel:







I'm looking forward to a quick, plug and play install this time!

 

I want to give an update as I worked on this today...

As you all know, I have been going for over a year now with just the fan controls and cruise controls working, no radio controls. I believe the reason it didn't work was due to the fact the radio that came in my Ex is actually from an Escape according to the part number, even though it's a 6-disk and looks the same. It lacks speed sensitive volume too.

Anyway, I saw C50Bart offer up a factory radio the other day. I sent him a PM about it and "won" it since I was the first to respond about it. I received and installed it today.

Before snapping the radio back in, I thought I'd mess around with trying to get the steering wheel radio buttons to work. I had the wire run and wrapped around the wire I thought it should go to when I discovered it didn't work with the radio. After playing with the connections a little, the volume went up with the button!!!

So now I finally have every steering wheel function working as it should on the steering wheel!!

As I originally suspected, the wire to connect to in the radio harness is the light blue/red stripe wire on the right plug, when looking at the plugs if the radio is pulled out and tipped down out of the dash. That wire should be on the left end of that plug, on the top side of the plug.

It does connect to the brown wire from the Navigator clock spring.

I now have speed sensitive volume and working steering wheel buttons!! Thanks again Chris!

Stewart or Tor, could one of you edit the OP wiring info for the brown wire to delete the part that says "Unknown at this time- maybe radio?" to say "Radio button feed- connect to light blue/red stripe wire coming out of rear radio plug." Thanks!

 

Mods? Pretty please?

 

Sunline...you mean you want them to edit the post that you put up? You do know you can edit your own postings after you put them up, right?

 

Yes. Apparently it won't let me edit it though because it's such an old post. I'm guessing there's either a six month or one year edit window? I'm guessing they as mods have unlimited ability to do that.

 

Great write up. Off to Ebay! BRB!

 

Thanks!

Finding a '98-'02 tan Navigator wheel on eBay is tough, let alone in good condition. Make sure to ask for lots of pics if there aren't any, because there's a lot of junk out there.

The easy solution is the remanufactured wheels, but often times you can't get the radio/fan buttons or the grips at 10 & 2. I don't use the grips often, but I sometimes do on long trips. They help. This option just gets the wood.

 

GOTCHA!

 

Oh, another tip. It helps to search for Navigator steering columns, not steering wheels. Most yards sell columns/wheels together, so they advertise it as the column. Found this one by searching for columns, and it looks good, but definitely needs more pics because the finish could be peeling up close:

99 00 01 LINCOLN NAVIGATOR Steering Column w/ Tilt | eBay

It isn't 100% necessary to get the keys with the column, but it does help a lot if you need to get the clockspring off the column.

 

Very nice sir. I will expand my search criteria. Not in a hurry since I am knee deep in pain on this project but if one comes up I will definitely snap it up.

Yeah, that pic sucks!

 

Oh yeah, I understand. In just looking through what's out there, I was shocked at how much of the same inventory is still up that I looked at a year ago. Some is new, like that link I posted, but there's a lot that isn't. Just look at the number that are Cash for Clunkers victims.

Also, even though it is for/from a Navigator, it seems a lot advertise their Navigator stuff as Expedition stuff. I guess they figure since there were a lot more Expeditions out there, they are expanding their market.

 

How did that blackwood wheel come out. I would really like to find one of those to keep with my black theme, but I know that the chance of that is slim to none.

 

Turned out really well! I can't help but smile every time I get in it.

They are really hard to find, and I've only ever seen one listed (as a column) on car-part.com. It's like a database for all the parts yards around the country. So I had to call them all individually.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l-install.html

 

That came out great. Oh I want one of those really bad. If you ever decide to change again let me know, Ill pay you good money for it!