Has anyone done this? How hard is it?

 

mine came with it so i dont know if this will help
i have seen the direct replacements on ebay and it looks simple
exept the air bag part,thats the one thing i dont like to mess with

 

anyone else?

 

i second this....

anyone know how to do it (even if the controls are NOT on the steering wheel)

i thought about it and imagined some switches on the dash and though hmm how hard would that be......

 

It has been discussed in the past. rwenzing has offered some highly constructive comments on the idea. Search young skywalker, search..

 

I did a search and nothing...

 

Once the airbag is out of the way, a puller is used to remove the steering wheel. Then the clockspring assembly must be replaced. Shop manual, correct tools and a moderate level of experience would be helpful.

Under the hood is the easier part. Just mount up the servo and cable and plug in the connector.

Ford sells an accessory kit that retails for about $350. It contains the same parts used in the factory installed speed control system.

If you have a noncurrent model, you can sometimes you can find the same genuine Ford kit on eBay for $125~150. There are many variations so you must get the correct kit for your engine and year.

Or you could get all the parts from a compatible donor truck at a junkyard and install them.

 

I'll sell you a brick for 88 cents!

Seriously, I've added it to cars before and it is exactly like Bob said. If you have a little mechanical ability and can read a shop manual I say go for it.

~HJ

 

Just like Bob said... quick and easy really...

The hardest part is getting the clockspring out, which isn't all the difficult, imo. Just be careful when taking the airbag out. I disconnected my battery first before taking it out. A gear puller works great too on taking off the steering wheel/replacing it.

 

Puller being used to remove the steering wheel:





The white clockspring in this picture is exposed after the steering wheel has been removed. It is basically an enclosed spool of plastic ribbon with several conductive bands. It winds and unwinds to allow the steering wheel to turn while providing individual electrical paths to the various functions in the wheel - horn, airbag, speed control and illumination. There are usually 2 additional conductors in a cruise control clockspring (six instead of four, IIRC). It is CRITICAL that the clockspring is correctly "timed" to the front steering position. If not, it will snap or fail due to kinking or abrasion.

 

Hey Bob, I don't know if you did this or not... But, when I pulled my steering wheel off, I made sure I got the bolt that held the junker steering wheel on. I threaded it into my truck a few threads to not mess them up.

 

That would probably work well depending on the configuration of the puller used.

There's a chamfer in the steering shaft hole that matches the taper on the floating tip my gear puller. So I just use the puller directly on the steering shaft. No problems at all using this method on a couple of Rangers.

 

I had an afermarket cruise control installed. It works but the truck struggles to maintain speed on inclines.