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Completed Steering Wheel Conversion - 2011 Jeep Steering Wheel Installed In 2008 JK
JK Electrical, Lighting & Sound SystemsBulletin board forum regarding topics such as stereo head units, CD players, MP3 players, speaker systems, amplifiers, hardmounted GPS devices, computers, headlight upgrades, fog lights, off-road lights, general wiring and anti-theft devices.
I’ve wanted to convert my 2008 style steering wheel to the 2011 Jeep style since I first saw the re-design. I love my Jeep and its interior, but the new steering wheel with the three spoke design reminds me of the 80’s and 90’s YJs and XJs for which I have a great fondness.
I did tons of research before the conversion so I had an idea of what to expect. The only steering wheel that would work; would be the wheel from the 2011 and later JK or Liberty. I looked into purchasing a new wheel, but the total to build a new steering wheel came to over $1000. Instead, I waited months for the right deal to pop up on eBay. Eventually, I purchased a complete leather steering wheel from a 2011 Liberty for $80.00 and an airbag from a 2011 JK for $200.00. I had to buy bolts from Lowes to mount the airbag because these are not available from the dealer, but they were under $5.00.
The various steering wheel controls (radio, hand-free, etc.) WILL NOT FUNCTION for 2007 – 2010 JKs. The only way to get them to work; would be to have Chrysler re-program the pre-2011 TIPM to recognize the controllers. As someone else on the forum pointed out, the dealer cannot flash the TIPM to accept the input because it was not an option for earlier model years and Chrysler will only push out updates for electronics that were included in the Jeep’s model year sales code catalog.
The JK airbag connections are the same from 2007-2012, so the airbag was plug and play.
I spliced the connector for the 2011 horn into the wiring harness for the original 2008 steering wheel.
My Jeep came stock with cruise and I held out a glimmer of hope that the 2008 TIPM would accept input from the 2011 controller for the cruise commands, but it didn’t. I had to remove the cruise lever from my old steering wheel and mount it to the 2011 steering wheel frame.
So the functions that are working are the functions that I had previously. Considering that this was a purely cosmetic upgrade, I’m fine with that. No codes, no airbag light, horn works, cruise works, and of course it still steers! I’m now debating on whether or not to change out the shroud. I’ve ordered a charcoal one, but I keep changing my mind on whether or not to use it when it arrives.
BTW, the 2011 steering wheel is a bit smaller in diameter than the pre-2011 steering wheel. This gives the Jeep a sportier steering feel, which I have grown to appreciate.
Anyhoo, I know many others have had this same upgrade in mind, so I wanted to share my experience. Let me know if you have any questions.
I know this is several years later but i just did this install myself and wanted to update a couple things in case anyone else wanted to do it. I'm going to hopefully answer some questions that didn't get answered throughout the thread. I'm going to post the original post and just edit the things that were missing. Because it's 2018, I was able to use a 2015 steering wheel instead of a 2011 but worked all the same...
I’ve wanted to convert my 2008 style steering wheel to the 2015 Jeep style.
I did tons of research before the conversion so I had an idea of what to expect. The only steering wheel that would work; would be the wheel from the 2011-2015 and later JK or Liberty. I looked into purchasing a new wheel, but the total to build a new steering wheel came to over $1000. Instead, I got the steering wheel in perfect condition from a local junk yard (found by searching Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market). I got the airbag off Ebay. Eventually, I purchased a complete leather steering wheel from a 2015 JK for $75.00 and an airbag from a 2012 Compass for $200.00. I had to buy bolts from Home Depot (M6,1.0, 18mm) to mount the airbag because these are not available from the dealer, but they were under $5.00 with the washers.
The various steering wheel controls (radio, hand-free, etc.) WILL NOT FUNCTION for 2007 – 2010 JKs. The only way to get them to work; would be to have Chrysler re-program the pre-2011 TIPM to recognize the controllers. As someone else on the forum pointed out, the dealer cannot flash the TIPM to accept the input because it was not an option for earlier model years and Chrysler will only push out updates for electronics that were included in the Jeep’s model year sales code catalog. (Still have not seen a fix for this)
The JK airbag connections are the same from 2007-2015, so the airbag was plug and play.
I spliced the connector for the 2015 horn into the wiring harness for the original 2008 steering wheel. (Pictured below, outside white goes to the black wire off the 2015 horn connector. Excuse the bad tape job but I soldered them together. Make sure you give yourself enough room to strip wires when cutting the connector off of the 2008 horn)
My Jeep came stock with cruise and I held out a glimmer of hope that the 2008 TIPM would accept input from the 2011 controller for the cruise commands, but it didn’t. I had to remove the cruise lever from my old steering wheel and mount it to the 2011 steering wheel frame. (I did not actually mount this in because I wasn't sure how the holes would work. Instead I left it loose but the airbag holds it in. It's a little loose but still works fine and doesn't move at all unless I touch it)
So the functions that are working are the functions that I had previously. Considering that this was a purely cosmetic upgrade, I’m fine with that. No codes, no airbag light, horn works, cruise works, and of course it still steers! I’m now debating on whether or not to change out the shroud. I’ve ordered a charcoal one, but I keep changing my mind on whether or not to use it when it arrives. (I already had the black interior, pictured below)
BTW, the 2011 steering wheel is a bit smaller in diameter than the pre-2011 steering wheel. This gives the Jeep a sportier steering feel, which I have grown to appreciate.
Anyhoo, I know many others have had this same upgrade in mind, so I wanted to share my experience. Let me know if you have any questions.
Still confused as to how you attached cruise control. Does it work? Since the cruise control lever requires a push down and up for set/decel & res/accel, how does letting it dangle allow the resistance to use it...?
can you show pictures of the attachemwnt and explain if it works.
i am also
wondering if one couldn’t trace the wires and signals sent from original and then attach/connect to newer steering wheel controls. It’s a simple switchnir signal sent when pressed right? Perhaps a certain voltage sent to trigger function? So why couldn’t one map that signal to the pre-2011 cruise control wires. The signals for triggering function is all pre- controller right? So if pre 2011 vehicle TIPM expect a certain signal or voltage for “turn on cruise” couldn’t one take the signal or voltage from the newer wheel and either bump it to match the old signal signature and the old TIPM would accept it and wouldn’t know the difference? Or is the signal digital?
I’ve wanted to convert my 2008 style steering wheel to the 2011 Jeep style since I first saw the re-design. I love my Jeep and its interior, but the new steering wheel with the three spoke design reminds me of the 80’s and 90’s YJs and XJs for which I have a great fondness.
I did tons of research before the conversion so I had an idea of what to expect. The only steering wheel that would work; would be the wheel from the 2011 and later JK or Liberty. I looked into purchasing a new wheel, but the total to build a new steering wheel came to over $1000. Instead, I waited months for the right deal to pop up on eBay. Eventually, I purchased a complete leather steering wheel from a 2011 Liberty for $80.00 and an airbag from a 2011 JK for $200.00. I had to buy bolts from Lowes to mount the airbag because these are not available from the dealer, but they were under $5.00.
The various steering wheel controls (radio, hand-free, etc.) WILL NOT FUNCTION for 2007 – 2010 JKs. The only way to get them to work; would be to have Chrysler re-program the pre-2011 TIPM to recognize the controllers. As someone else on the forum pointed out, the dealer cannot flash the TIPM to accept the input because it was not an option for earlier model years and Chrysler will only push out updates for electronics that were included in the Jeep’s model year sales code catalog.
The JK airbag connections are the same from 2007-2012, so the airbag was plug and play.
I spliced the connector for the 2011 horn into the wiring harness for the original 2008 steering wheel.
My Jeep came stock with cruise and I held out a glimmer of hope that the 2008 TIPM would accept input from the 2011 controller for the cruise commands, but it didn’t. I had to remove the cruise lever from my old steering wheel and mount it to the 2011 steering wheel frame.
So the functions that are working are the functions that I had previously. Considering that this was a purely cosmetic upgrade, I’m fine with that. No codes, no airbag light, horn works, cruise works, and of course it still steers! I’m now debating on whether or not to change out the shroud. I’ve ordered a charcoal one, but I keep changing my mind on whether or not to use it when it arrives.
BTW, the 2011 steering wheel is a bit smaller in diameter than the pre-2011 steering wheel. This gives the Jeep a sportier steering feel, which I have grown to appreciate.
Anyhoo, I know many others have had this same upgrade in mind, so I wanted to share my experience. Let me know if you have any questions.
Completed a 2012 jeep patriot airbag and steering wheel swap into my jeep jk. Was a direct bolt ln swap airbag plugs right in. 2 wires need to be swapped from old wheel to airbag horn switch. Thanks for your help.
The patriot and compass have the same size steering shaft and spline count as the wrangler jk. The airbag is also the same. I forgot to retrofit my cruise control switch and i tossed it away with my old wheel by mistake. Basically none of the functions work on my newer steering wheel. Itsjust looks nicer to match my 15 jk dash conversion in my 07.
03-20-2017, 10:48 PM
2015 fitment to 2008
