Telescopic steering wheel

[junklar]

Hi all,

Has anybody tried installing a telescopic steering wheel to their car? Is it just a basic swap of columns or is there any other parts that are needed to do this?

[Devero]

I was just thinking about that the other day....

I'm wondering the same thing. Is it even possible?

[adamsry]

I think that it is possible given some creative engineering the problem would be collecting all the necessary parts. I had a 1994 C280 w/o it and there was the exact car in a junk yard i picked over that had the option. It looks to me like the bolt down and what not was pretty similar but would require ordering the correct harness assembly's. There is a cable that is similar to a hood latch cable that activates / deactivated the shaft brake for adjustment and it from what i could tell would require the entire colom to be replaced turn signals air bag etc etc. I considered it my self but decided that the aggravation would not warrant the benefit at the base of the shaft where the spline is connecting to the steering there is a joint coupling that needs to be replaced as well and some other bushing items. I think that it is doo able but would be a complete PITA if you want to make it function stock then you would have to at some point splice a cable into the speedo in the car so that your dash lights indicate when the wheel is locked or not and im not sure if there are variations of the dash cluster or just one that fits the bill and just 2 wire pins need to be spliced in the socket. After careful consideration and no real side by side schematics i decided to allow someone else to be the gennipig.

[junklar]

"n you would have to at some point splice a cable into the speedo in the car so that your dash lights indicate when the wheel is locked or not"

The light comes up on the dash when I push down the steering wheel lock button even though mine isn't a telescopic steering wheel.

Did you also snatch the cables you mentioned from the junk yard?

Just wondering how much it costs (the telescopic column) because I am planning on looking for one at a junk yard

[adamsry]

I did not feel like messing with it so i left it there it required more tools than i had available at the time.