Audio Steering Controls Retrofit

[Bandit400]

Last part should be here Thursday. Hopefully I will be able to give this a go over the weekend.

Happy to say, mission accomplished I now have working audio controls in the Tradesman. No programming necessary. The parts I listed in my prior post all appear to be working as expected. I took a bunch of photos and will post a thorough write up of the mod over the next few days. I still need to hunt down the part number for the small trim panel for the audio control bezel. Didn’t get a chance to go the dealer parts counter yet.

 

[sdu]

Happy to say, mission accomplished I now have working audio controls in the Tradesman. No programming necessary. The parts I listed in my prior post all appear to be working as expected. I took a bunch of photos and will post a thorough write up of the mod over the next few days. I still need to hunt down the part number for the small trim panel for the audio control bezel. Didn’t get a chance to go the dealer parts counter yet.

Awesome! I will show your photo to the parts guy I previously asked and see if he knows what the part number for that cover is.

 

[Chrisminx]

Did you have to use anything to get the old wheel off?

 

[Bandit400]

Did you have to use anything to get the old wheel off?

No, just gave it a few whacks with the palm of my hand from back on both sides to break it loose. Air bag was a bit of a pain.

 

[Chrisminx]

I didn't have to use anything when I swapped the wheel on my 2013 Dart, but a puller was recommended when I did the swap on my 2015 2500. Once you find the part and pn for the hole cover, I am placing an order.

 

[Bandit400]

Trying to find a part number for this tiny plastic trim panel that I am pointing to. Can’t find it on any of the online part lists or diagrams. I was hoping it would come with the audio switch bezel but no luck. Any ideas on the part number? If not, I will stop by the dealer on Friday to see if we can identify it. Also planning to try the install on Friday
View attachment 14214

I think I may have found the part number for these little Switch Screw Covers, looks like one for right and one for left. Going to confirm tomorrow these part numbers with the dealer.

Switch Screw Covers (THESE MOPAR PART NUMBERS NOT YET CONFIRMED)
7ED50TX7AA
7ED51TX7AA

 

[Bandit400]

I think I may have found the part number for these little Switch Screw Covers, looks like one for right and one for left. Going to confirm tomorrow these part numbers with the dealer.

Switch Screw Covers (THESE MOPAR PART NUMBERS NOT YET CONFIRMED)
7ED50TX7AA
7ED51TX7AA

Stopped by the dealer today and ordered these two parts. Should be about a week for them to arrive and confirm they fit. Stay tuned. This should be the last parts to complete this mod

 

[Bandit400]

Stopped by the dealer today and ordered these two parts. Should be about a week for them to arrive and confirm they fit. Stay tuned. This should be the last parts to complete this mod

Confirmed, these are the correct part numbers for the audio switch screw covers:

Switch Screw Covers (Black color)
7ED50TX7AA
7ED51TX7AA

These were the last parts to complete the mod. I will now draft up the install summary with all needed part numbers.

 

[Chrisminx]

Confirmed, these are the correct part numbers for the audio switch screw covers:

Switch Screw Covers (Black color)
7ED50TX7AA
7ED51TX7AA

These were the last parts to complete the mod. I will now draft up the install summary with all needed part numbers.
View attachment 14660

Sweet!

 

[Chrisminx]

Happy to say, mission accomplished I now have working audio controls in the Tradesman. No programming necessary. The parts I listed in my prior post all appear to be working as expected. I took a bunch of photos and will post a thorough write up of the mod over the next few days. I still need to hunt down the part number for the small trim panel for the audio control bezel. Didn’t get a chance to go the dealer parts counter yet.
View attachment 14316View attachment 14315

Received a leather wheel with audio controls. I have no idea how to get the airbag off. I can't seem to reach far enough in to find the airbag clip. Any tips?

 

[Bandit400]

Received a leather wheel with audio controls. I have no idea how to get the airbag off. I can't seem to reach fat enough in to find the airbag clip. Any tips?

It’s a bit of a pain in the a** to get that off. I used a T25 torx wrench to engage the spring latch holding the airbag on each side. Insert it in there and you will feel where it engage the spring latch and push with a little force until one side of the air bag pops off. It took me a couple tries to successfully engage the latch. Then do the same on the other side of the wheel to free the second spring latch holding the airbag.

 

[JDison]

I did mine a couple of weeks ago, used a pin punch that was just smaller than the hole. The first picture you can see the end of the spring on the back of the air bag and the recess in the plastic that's meant to help guide the probe. The second picture shows the punch and how deep the spring is. The bezel for the switches also has a hole to guide the punch so it's just a matter of inserting the punch straight through the hole with just a little forward pressure till you feel the spring. When you feel the end of the spring start to move pull forward more aggressively on the punch so it doesn't slide off over the spring (See the many scratches on spring where it happened). The spring is relatively easy to push but has to move a lot further than you would think to release. My biggest mistake was thinking the spring was deeper and stiffer than it is. Once I got the air bag off and saw the hole going through the bezel and the notch in air bag in front of spring it all made sense, now I can remove it in about 5 minutes.

 

[Chrisminx]

Thanks for the quick replies. I have a friend that works at my local dealer that sent me a pic of the tool they use. It's $85.

 

[Chrisminx]

Got it off. Wasn't too hard. Got wheel switched over. Now I can't get the passenger side spring of rhe airbag to clip back on. Driver side went on easy

 

[Bandit400]

Make sure you didn’t accidentally push the spring clip in too far on the one side of the air bag. If yo did, then take a small flat blade and lightly pop it back into position. You should see the metal spring clip visible in the area I circled below. Check both areas on each side of air bag. You can see in my pic it’s not visible because I originally pushed it in too far when taking the air bag off. This was the pic before I popped the spring clip back in place.

 

[Chrisminx]

Lol. Thanks. Now I can't get the left side off to check. ‍

 

[Bandit400]

Lol. Thanks. Now I can't get the left side off to check. ‍

Try putting a bit of pressure pushing down on the side of the air bag not engaged while trying to release the remaining spring clip. Found that it could be more difficult to release the spring clip if there is no tension on it.

 

[Chrisminx]

I finally got it. I never could get the left side to release. I could pull the airbag up enough on the right side to see the spring while looking straight at the steering wheel. I used the tool below and it was small enough to pry the spring far enough towards wheel center to get behind the catch. Definitely a pain in the rear.

I found a "grade A" used leather wheel with all controls and buttons for $180. I couldn't pass that deal up. Thanks to @Bandit400 and @JDison for the assists.

 

[Bandit400]

I finally got it. I never could get the left side to release. I could pull the airbag up enough on the right side to see the spring while looking strait at the steering wheel. I used the tool below and it was small enough to pry the spring far enough towards wheel center to get behind the catch. Definitely a pain in the rear.View attachment 15127

I found a "grade A" used leather wheel with all controls and buttons for $180. I couldn't pass that deal up. Thanks to @Bandit400 and @JDison for the assists.

Sweet deal! Congrats on the mod

 

[rossagge]

Thanks for this thread write up and posts @Bandit400. Just pulled the trigger on all the parts needed to upgrade my Tradesman steering wheel to what you guys did. Looking forward to having radio controls (and leather) on my steering wheel again. I got rid of a 2019 2500 gasser Big Horn w/Night ED package for my current 2020 Cummins Tradesman. Only features I miss are the steering wheel controls and the 8.4" Uconnect with Android Auto/Apple Car play. I have all those parts needed on order as well!