Looking for ideas on the steering wheel. Don't do the bulky covers. I thought of attempting a leather, tape-backed wrap spiral bound around the wheel. Haven't seen much online for products or about that route, though. Anybody know about degree of difficulty for a replacement leather wrap and sow project?

 

Chrisfix did a really good video on redoing a steering wheel. I'll link it for you here. Personally, I would probably look for a replacement wheel before trying to cover it myself. I don't think mine would look that good. But his turned out pretty great.

 

Great video!

 

Perfect video. Thank you. I'm likely to do that. Any special airbag considerations I'm unaware of as a new XJ owner? Anyone know the torque setting for the steering wheel bolt?

 

Disconnect the negative battery cable. Thinking at least 5 minutes before you do anything. I waited 30 minutes when I put cruise control in my '00. Something about capacitors discharging. Also when you put it all back together start her from the passenger seat. Make sure the wheels are straight before removing the clockspring. When you remove it you will see that one part rotates and the other part is stationary. See the shot below. The hole I circled in white should line up. You will want to put a zip tie or a piece of mechanics wire through there so it will not rotate out of position while taken apart. Not the end of the world if it does but better if it does not. Now when you remove the clockspring and those holes are not lined up but the wheels were straight when you did it having to turn the clockspring a little in one direction or the other to get the holes to line up is OK. If I am reading my '01 XJ Service Manual properly it looks like 40 ft. lbs. Maybe consider putting in Cruise Control while you are there if you can scavenge the parts from the boneyard. It is literally plug and play. For the actuator and clockspring (has to be a cruise control one) pretty sure any '97 to '01 will work. The switches need to be from a '97 or '98 though. Something about ohms. Not sure of the little harness in there if all years or if it has to be '97 or '98. Plenty of write ups and you can most likely rent the steering wheel puller from your local auto parts store. Might want to consider the WJ swap. Little lite reading for you.

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f11/w...-97-xj-906542/

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f67/gr...l-swap-224995/

 

Awesome info; thanks a lot.

I've decided to stick with the original wheel. Re-wrap it and attempt to add cruise control. Need start a search for the donor. I can't seem to envision adding switches like was done in the Jeepforum post. Anybody know more about that?

 

Found this awesome video on it:

 

Is the leather worn completely through in spots? If not, you can sand the leather smooth in the worn areas, apply die to bring it back to the correct color, then apply several coats of acrylic resolene to it for a finish coat that matches the "shiny" non-worn parts of the wheel.

The wear on mine was minor compared to yours, so I didn't bother to do the die treatment. It was rough at 10-2 o'clock on the back (dash) side. I sanded and applied several coats of acrylic resolene and it's smooth and feels basically like new.

 

You got before and after pictures? Mine is just starting to rot and if I can fix it before it gets past the point of no return, that would be awesome! What do you sand it with?

 

I think I used 600 grit sandpaper. I don't have pics, but I'll take some pics as it is and you will be able to see where it was wearing through the original finish since I didn't use the dye before applying the resolene. I didn't bother since you can't see it from the driver's seat.

I put on about 6-8 thin coats of the resolene, and I don't recommend doing that many. It's a tough finish, but it took a couple of weeks to fully cure in the middle of summer. It was annoyingly sticky during that time, but it probably will cure more quickly in your drier climate. If I were to do it again, I would do maybe 4 coats and let each coat fully cure before coating again. Mine feels slightly plasticy (?) but never slick--it has really good grip to it.

 

The first couple of shots show the black section at the top of the wheel that had worn through the finish of the leather. It was really rough here before I sanded and applied the acrylic resolene. The last two pics show how the finish on the worn smooth side now matches the finish on the side of the wheel that still shows grain. I only applied the resolene to the worn side. If you dye the worn areas, you can match the color rather than show black like mine.

 

Mine was wearing (not as much as yours) and I got Wheelskins leather cover. You put it over the wheel and lace it on the inside. I've put them on 2 other older vehicles and it's like having a new leather wheel. Look them up on the interweb. Fairly easy to put on and really nice result. Will post pics ASAP.