I prepare and paint my rock sliders after getting them fixed by the installer. After that, I take my new steering wheel that was recovered by Craft Customs in Dallas, TX and swap it into the Land Cruiser.
Great vid and nice to see others who still value the venerable 100 series - or as some have called it, the last of the good 'Cruisers. Just a word of warning. If you value your teeth, lips, nose, glasses or your face generally, NEVER, EVER wrestle a steering wheel off the column! Even if you replace the steering wheel nut a few threads to prevent it flying in your face, a rule of thumb for any car is that you can bend or damage the column spline, bend the column itself or break the sheer pins in collapsible columns. Then you'll be wondering why you spent the money on the steering wheel now that you need a new steering column assembly that will cost a truckload more than $350. Always use a puller - I've seen the tears not using one can cause! In general work on a car, disconnecting the negative cable from the battery is fine, but when working on anything to do with an airbag (pyrotechnics=explosion in your face), unless you wrap insulation tape around the negative battery clamp on the cable, disconnect the positive cable as well. Rocking the car when working on it can cause the clamp and cable to make contact with the body or engine and then you've created a circuit again. It takes an extra 2 minutes and its not a big deal to reset your clock and radio stations after doing this, but a lot harder to reset your head if you don't and the bag goes off. Apply Murphy's Law - this kind of mishap can be unforgiving if you're holding a screwdriver or other tool that becomes shrapnel if it goes off.
Just wanted to say THANKS for making such a helpful tutorial. Your thorough and patient explanation inspired me to tackle this project and I consider myself a newbie with car maintenance / DIY auto-projects. I bought a junkyard wheel for $50 (+ $50 shipping) and had it shipped directly to Craft Customs. Took about 3 weeks to get back to me. Just finished the install -- took me about 90 minutes but that was with a few pauses to grab the right tools. Things I picked up that I didn't have: a plastic pry tool, a torque wrench that went down to 10 lbs., and a 1/2" socket extension. You'll need an extension or deep drive 19mm socket to reach into the wheel. Also, O'Reillys tool rental will loan you a steering wheel puller set for free. I did that and ended up not needing it -- my wheel came off with a little tapping. The cruise control clasp was a little stumper, but came off with a flathead prying up there. Swapping the cruise harness to the new wheel was an easy 2-screw process. No trouble with the horn or airbag either. That wasn't as scary as I thought it might be! One question for you: when putting the new wheel on, do you think you need to get the EXACT teeth placement correctly, or just eyeball it? Now I have my old wheel that I'll either sell on mud, ebay, or maybe send back to Craft Customs to get refinished and then sell. For those wondering, Craft Customs pricing as of May 2024 is $300 for smooth leather all around, $350 for OEM style (leather and perforation), or $700 for leather + wood (Lexus style). Anyways, thanks again, this was a fun project and made me feel great that it went as planned!
I'm glad my video helped you tackle this. That's awesome to hear! There are only so many splines on the wheel and steering shaft, so it's easy to get off by a little bit when you put it back on. If it goes back on the wrong spline and is off, you can either take it off and try to get it set right or have the alignment guys sort that out.
@@thelandcruiserproject Makes sense, thank you! Now on to installing my WKOR sliders that just arrived...a little nervous to bend the brake line, but looking forward to the next project!
This is the one video to watch for the LC 100 series steering wheel swap. He runs it with precision and has the right advice throughout. The right tools, cheap and quick to get were key, but i didn't have a few. Got 'em local during shipping. I got my 2000 LC series 100 wheel at Dallas Steering Wheel by Donald Le. Don't think twice, it's all right. 2 days from order to installed. Sending him the core back tomorrow. On the basis of a few other comments below an the sometimes need to use a 'puller' to free the wheel. I'd suggest following the video on manual manipulation then, go around the clock with a soft rubber hammer and tap it from the back. Mine was stuck. several taps around the horn and it came right off. Color match and OEM feel is great.
Wolfman's Auto and Cycle Seats if you're looking for local craft excellence for LC leather seat DIY or easy pattern install. Redoing my 2000 LC, owned since new. So great to have the crafts women and men supporting my obsession with Land Cruisers we brought our babies home from the hospital in and now are looking for 300+K in the hills and mud and snow!!
Great video! I couldn't pull my steering wheel out either but after applying silicon stray, it slid out easily! I'm glad I tried that before buying a removal kit.
gotta love how the land cruiser eats up uneven terrain,, steering wheel looks great, color is perfect, in this video i see how tall you are !! lol,, i’m 6.1 and see why you needed a land cruiser without a sunroof!!! sad that specter off road didn’t work with you, sigh of the times i guess,, truck is looking great.
I also have a imperial jade mica 99 with no sunroof and cloth interior! Cool to see another. I’m getting ready to recover my wheel and found this. Nice write up.
@@thelandcruiserproject I’ll have to get more pics up! Especially the interior. I took the center caps off because one was loose and didn’t want to loose it before getting a replacement. I’ll be stitching my own leather wheel cover on this weekend. We’ll see how it goes.
For the OEM pattern (smooth too and bottom with perforated leather on the sides) it's $350 after you get it there. They pay return shipping. They don't do core charges so you have to come up with your own wheel (or send in yours).
great content, man! I have an 02 cruiser and am 6 3. I've been in search of a mod to bring the steering wheel 2-3 inches closer to me, as the steering wheel does not telescope. Any ideas? Thank you.
@@thelandcruiserproject I have looked into that but it appears that would be a costly mod as opposed to a bolt-on spacer for the column. Thanks for the reply, nonetheless!
The one that is on there now is actually my original. For the first swap, I purchased a used one from the junkyard and sent that one off to get repaired. I ended up selling that one and sending my original off. They pop up on ih8mud occasionally. You can also check Japanese Auto in Lehi, UT. Steve might have one.
Did you have any issues with the plastic that’s attached to the steering wheel rubbing against the plastic on the steering column as for the rubber I did have to modify to make it fit in. It finally worked in hindsight I’m getting a little plastic to plastic rubbing did you have any issues and any suggestions, thanks for this video. It helped me put everything together step-by-step.
I didn't have any interference issues with the plastic on the back of the wheel rubbing the steering column. Make sure the steering wheel plastic is seated all the way where it needs to be.
There is a cheap one on eBay that people have been using that you might be thinking of. I think that one runs somewhere around like 180 bucks. Something like this but I like OEM like I did. www.ebay.com/itm/Wooden-Steering-Wheel-Beige-Leather-FOR-03-07-LAND-CRUISER-FJ100-Standard-Type-/353368700348?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0
I bought a wheel that needed refurbishment from the junk yard and had that refurbished. When I got that back, I took off my original wheel and sent it in to get refinished and sold the refurbished junkyard wheel to a relatively ungrateful land cruiser forum member who then in turn, sent me back a mismatched core (was from an 02+).
@@thelandcruiserproject Thanks for the helpful vid; makes me want to tackle the refurb on my '02! Two Q's: 1. how much was the junkyard wheel? 2. why didn't you just keep the refurb'd junkyard wheel on yours, since it was OEM as well?
Awesome video; thanks for posting this! I need to remove mine just to realign top center. A couple of comments: 1. The Lexus version of the sw with wood is available on eBay for ~$275. 2. Leatherseats.com has incredible customer service for seat covers...emails, phone calls, etc. before even purchasing. Lseat.com has great covers at a low price with less dedicated customer service.
@thelandcruiserproject you mean that the 95 airbag doesn't fits to the steering wheel or the 100 airbag haves different plugs and don't fit with the 95
