R129 Steering wheel cage

[Epo]

Hello, I am new to the Mercedes life. I have a great SL320, that someone I knew offered to me as her partner had passed away and she couldn't see it sit on her drive going to waste,which it had been doing for 6 years. I reluctantly test drove it. Reluctantly due to the fact that I have a 1988 BMW 635 csi already that I have had for 15 years and I have recently inherited my late brothers 1996 Jaguar XJ6 (which I can't sell as it was my brothers) So when she called me and asked if I wanted to buy her SL I said "I don't have the money and I don't have the space". Low and behold I now have an SL the wife is going mad.
I bought a new wooden steering wheel for it and found that the cage from my original wheel didn't fit as it didn't have the horn tabs on it. I went back to the place I got it from and they gave me a spring loaded-cage with the tabs on to try. The problem is the cage they gave me screwed to the steering wheel using torks, the wooden steering wheel has studs like my original wheel and thus the cage must be bolted to it. I offered in the screwed cage, but it sits approx 10mm off the base of the steering wheel. So now I need to find a sprung loaded cage that bolts into the wooden steering wheel that allows the airbag with no horn tabs on to work correctly, there are obviously two types of spring loaded cage. One that bolts and one that screws. Can anyone help? My wife said she can... she said put the old wheel back on!. However it was my wife who managed to find this forum and said I seek help.
All the best.
Epo.

 

[stephenmercedes]

I'm sure you'll get a sensible reply sometime soon, but I'm a great believer that "a picture paints...". Any chance of uploading a few snaps so we can see exactly what issues you are grappling with? Oh, welcome to the forum...

 

[RichardF]

I think you should follow your wife's advice.

 

[Epo]

Thanks for the reply. Yep photos will help. Struggling to upload photos,I will try when I get home

 

[Epo]

 

[Epo]

I think you should follow your wife's advice.

I am thinking that too now

 

[RichardF]

But never, ever admit to it.

 

[zipdip]

I think we have all done this,you have lucked into a SL and even thought you have two other cars have felt the need to buy the SL,but now comes the in my humble opinion the crazy bit,you have a second hand car with maybe a certain number of hidden problems and you have bought a great steering wheel to replace what looks like a good condition original one, and it does not fit,I am sure we have some members who have overcome this problem,but I face this morning with a smile on my face thinking about all the crazy things I have bought for cars over the years before making certain the car was not needing far more important things than a great looking steering wheel.

 

[d w124]

The steering wheel you bought is for the earlier cars
There might be a way to swap the inner parts but without trying it I would't know as I've never worked on that specific wheel

 

[219]

I went through all this after I got my R129 a few years back . On my car someone had fitted a non original wheel and wired the horn to a toggle switch under the dash , and the airbag was disconnected , leaving the light on , which would have been an instant MOT failure ! I suspect the original wheel had been blagged .

Anyway , I sourced a wood/leather wheel out of a W140 that was being broken , then I had all the faffing around because the wheel that came out of my car had the slip rings and carbon brushes , whereas the new wheel had the disc with the spiral ribbon cable inside ; also the cages were different .

I can't remember exactly how I resolved it , but I had a number of wheels , some of which had the Torx bolts and other hex heads as per your photos . In any case the various bits are swappable - from memory the actual wheels are the same , but you need to swap the centres over , complete with the spring loaded horn push by undoing the four fixings nearest the centre of the wheel ( the four bolts right in the middle closest to the steering column - the bolts like the one at the top of the 'L' and "i' of the word 'Like' in your last picture ) then the whole assembly comes out in one .

You need to take everything out , leaving just the bare chassis of the wheel , then the other complete set will fit in .

It has been three or four years since I did all this ( also involving a three way swap with my 190E since I now have a wood/leather wheel in it too ) and I threw all my scrap wheels in the bin after getting both cars sorted out , so I don't have any loose bits to go and refer to .

Just be careful when you remove the cage , since from memory there are springs/washers on the Torx bolts which secure the airbag from the back of the wheel and these can fall out when you remove the cage .

 

[wu56Shoozz]

Off Topic: How's your Air Flow Meter on the 635 and ISV?

 

[Epo]

Off Topic: How's your Air Flow Meter on the 635 and ISV?

Hello, sorry I’ve been off here for a bit, repairing my 635, as someone in an C63 rear ended me lucky for me it was just two new bumper shocks and a back light. The air flow meter is fine in my 6 er, never had an issue. The only issue I had was with the poor performing brakes, so I replaced them with 840 Calipers.

 

[Epo]

I have given up on the steering wheel, to concentrate on the air conditioning not working.