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This is not a difficult job and could probably be done in an hour. It took me a lot longer because I had issues getting my steering wheel off of the shaft. Mine was seized real good. Make sure you get a steering wheel puller before doing this job. It is not necessary but, if your steering wheel is good and stuck it is necessary. If it's your only Wheels you need to have a puller before you get started just in case. I will also mention how I broke my clock spring. I was installing a new steering gear and was having trouble getting the splines to line up with the steering rod. I then turn the wheel back and forth left and right and an attempt to get the splines to line up and ended up putting an extra turn on the wheel before I got the splines lined up. This made my clock spring get In a bind and snap. Note, I do not have a tilt steering wheel and I am unsure how to remove the tilt lever. If I knew how I would have included it in this write-up. My bad!
After going to the parts store four times, this was the puller that actually worked for our particular steering wheel. It was cheap and I took it back when I was done and returned it. The Jaws seemed small and seemed like they wouldn't work but they held strong and popped the steering wheel off first try using the black spacer for the extra bolt space. It took me like 2 to 3 hours to get this steering wheel off. This was the only polar I could get that actually worked.
First step, disconnect both batteries just to be on the safe side. Make sure you're steering wheel is straight before you get started. Also, I recommend if you're steering wheel is not aligned with your tires meaning both are facing straight at the same points, I recommend fixing that before doing this so as not to damage your new clock spring. There are two plugs just like this in the back of your steering wheel. Behind them are two 8 mm bolts for your airbag. Mark the shaft and the steering wheel so you can line it back up properly. Once your air bag is removed and your wires are disconnected, take out the big torque bolt holding the steering wheel on. I believe it was a t-50. You want to use your steering wheel puller at the top and the bottom to remove the steering wheel. You can wiggle it by hand until it comes off but, this did not work for me. Mine was seized and had to use a puller. Remove your bottom column cover. Three Phillips head screws. Next you want to remove your ignition switch. This is easy to do. Put your key in and turn it to the run position. There is an extra hole next to the bolt hole on the bottom column cover. I find it easier to just remove the bottom column cover and then remove the ignition switch. The little ball in the center of the picture has to be pushed up with the key in the run position and the ignition will wiggle out. After the ignition is out, you can remove the top column cover. After the ignition is removed, remove this little sensor doodad. It just pops off. You may see the big flat cable hanging down. That is my clock spring cable. My clock spring was in three pieces when I got it off. Hence why I'm replacing it. Follow the wires down from the clock spring down to underneath the dash and remove your under panel. The wires are just popped into a little bracket back here underneath the steering column. The clock spring just has these little clips holding it. Pull them back a little bit with a flat head and then wiggle the clock spring off. There is a little black sleeve sleeve that may be left on the steering shaft. You have to remove this before putting on the new clock spring. There are three clips holding the clock spring to the steering column. One of the top in the center, one to the right, and one at the bottom. As long as you had your steering wheel straight when you took everything off, it will be very easy to put the new clock spring on. The wire coming out of the clock spring goes to the bottom right. The reason you wanted your steering wheel centered is so that you don't get confused and put the clocks going on upside down in some way.
Once to clock spring is on, inspect all of your clips and make sure all of them clicked in good. Mine were a little stubborn and I had to push a little bit harder to get them to click in due to the aftermarket being a little different. Once you've made sure all of your clips clicked in, reassemble! Route your new wires the same way the old ones were and plug them in underneath the dash and click them into their mounting plate.
Slide your wires through your steering wheel and put your steering wheel back on with the marks you made previously lined up. Put some loctite on the steering wheel bolt and get it tight. Put on your top column cover and bottom column cover and then slide your ignition back into place. Note, you have to have the ignition in the run position to slide it back in. And install your bottom column cover and hook up your airbag and horn wires and, install your airbag! Pretty easy job if your steering wheel comes off easily!
For this lame Tristan...what was the symptom for replacing it
Well, when I turn my steering wheel I heard creaking and, I turned to the left full lock and the steering wheel made a loud pop and the seat belt light started flashing erratically when I turn the wheel. It completely broke the clock spring into 3 pieces. When I turn the wheel after the pop I could hear some weird plastic on plastic rubbing noises.
I hate to comment on an old thread, but how would one go about centering the wheel/clock spring? The reason I ask, is because I pulled my steering box (along with tie rods/ball joints) and I did not know about this as I'm used to working on older stuff> so I do not know how many turns to left or right my wheel is. I know it hasn't been overturned, I just don't know if its 2 turns to left or 1 turn to right, etc...
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