I'm going to log progress on a new project I just started.

I bought my 01 ranger a little over a year ago and quickly noticed that the steering wheel was in poor shape. I had planned to just put on an aftermarket wheel with a quick disconnect, but the cruise control buttons would need to disappear. I like my creature comforts, and cruise control was definitely nice when driving 2-3 hours to the desert.

I had seen a guy on another forum who re-stitched his leather wheel with red thread, and that got me thinking. I had some faux suede left over from a previous project, a sewing machine, and plenty of time on my hands.

I pulled the stock wheel off tonight, and set to work getting the stock leather off. A seam splitter and small scissors made quick work of the threads. I'm saving the leather for now so that I can make patterns for the suede.





The foam looks like it melted, and had stocked through the leather. Every time I drove the truck my hands ended up sticky. Not a pleasant experience.




I scraped off as much of the old foam as I could for now by using a putty knife and shop rags, but it still needs some more work. Tomorrow I plan to source new foam and the needles and thread I'll need to sew the new wrap together.

 

Got materials this morning, and began recovering this thing tonight. The padding that used to be under the leather was like 1/16" thick, plus the thick leather. Since my new faux suede is much thinner, I opted for thicker foam. I went to a local upholstery shop who recommended I use headliner material. I doubt it will melt like the stock foam did, and the actual cloth that comes on the foam should give the suede a bit of bite with minimal use of glue.

I used this same glue when redoing a headliner before, and other interior pieces. Bad *** stuff. It's store brand (A1 Foam and Fabric), but 3m makes similar stuff.


The strip of foam is cut like 3 1/2 or 3 5/8" thick, wraps around the wheel enough to leave room for the seam on the inside. It's all one piece of foam, I sprayed a few inches at a time and stuck it on, doing my best not to let it wrinkle. The scotch tape is to hold the edges down while the glue dries, it'll be removed. I made one or two relief cuts where the spokes are.


I also cut the seams for the old leather wrap and flattened the pieces out. I just finished dinner, I'm about to start making templates for the new material.

 

Looks like a good start! Should look pretty cool when it's all done

 

Thanks, that's what I'm hoping for. Anything will be better than what was on there.


Tonight's progress:

Made like 3 templates, traced it out 4 times, and finally got a piece that's good enough to work with.






Genius thing about having a mom who can sew and quilt is that she taught me how. Nothing too complex on this project, but it's a good skill when living that bachelor life. The hidden seams for the bottom piece don't show up too well in the pic, but there's a nice bump in the material, just the look I'm going for.





The new cover is a tight fit, but that's a good thing. I got it wrapped around the wheel tonight to hopefully stretch out a bit before getting back to it tomorrow.

 

That nice work man! I can't even sew a t-shirt back together :P

 

Looks like a lot of work but should look great when finished.

I too can't sew for $hit, if something needs sewing there is always Target, they have all the right stuff.

A while back I bought a steering wheel cover, looks good but as most of my project they got put on hold. I am hoping to get to the small ones while waiting on the remodel.

Good luck with the project, you have more patients than Job

 

Hey I know this is an old thread, but it there any progress on the wheel doyouquaxu?