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ldon't like the way how l finish the airbag in the first picture . the way l cut the bracket it's not right ..the bracket it should be finished without cutting and here is how l done it. Put the airbag inside the cover but before that make sure you cut those pins Make sure to cut the number 1 left and right and make sure number two is flash with a black metal Put the bracket in top the both holes in top they are perfect fit but they just need to be a little bigger so they can go easy in and out the bolt ...the bottom ones need to be cut in different location .. Before you drill the holes you need to make sure the airbag sit perfect with the cover After you drill ..make sure the bracket it will be set perfectly in /out without any pressure .. connect the cover airbag with the bracket do not tight the bolt until you see the bracket set perfectly without any pressure to the cover
Finish
I bit the bullet and installed my C6 steering wheel this weekend. My apologies in advance for the long post...
As I was disassembling the steering column, one of my top objectives was figuring out how the horn wires make their way into the steering wheel. Originally I assumed there were wire(s) for it in the clock spring, but the C5 clock spring only has 2 wires for the airbag.
So, how does the horn wiring work then??
Here's the red wire that goes to the horn contact switch in the stock C5 airbag. You can see the clock spring isn't installed but the horn wire is still there.
The red wire sits inside of a white plastic sleeve that gets spring-loaded into place. This is with the white sleeve undone (it's a push-in-and-turn motion to release). Behind the red wire is a brass-colored contact...
That brass colored contact is a part of this wheel:
And behind that white plastic wheel/brass ring is a spring-loaded brass pin. My quick research says this arrangement of pin-against-wheel is called a "slip ring".
I determined that this smaller black wire in the below turn signal stalk wiring harness is connected to the above brass pin. There's also a thicker black wire which provides a ground to the steering shaft and thus the steering wheel. So the steering wheel frame is grounded to the car and this provides the 2nd "wire" for the horn contact switch.
I split the horn wire in the harness with some bullet-style crimp connectors. The future plan is to add in my custom Arduino setup here so that steering wheel controls can coincide with the C5 clock spring (since our goal is to keep the C5 clock spring due to single stage airbag).
For "fun" I yet again disassembled my C6-style airbag and put the backing plate onto the steering wheel to check clearance and horn functionality:
While the airbag was apart I took another shot at improving its fit into the steering wheel. If it's any better, it's only marginal.
Lastly, upcoming airbag plans: the tracking number for my new GM C6 airbag is finally active!!! It took a whopping 32 days from order date to when Fedex received it. Estimated delivery is tomorrow (Tuesday).
I've been pondering my current airbag fitment issue. There seems to be 2 sub-variants of the ~2004-2007 2500HD/Express van/etc. single-stage airbag: originally I purchased the one on the left (below), but last night I went ahead and purchased the one on the right (what's another $56...). It's likely only a change to the backing plate, but regardless this will give me another shot at better airbag fitment with the new C6 airbag cover.
Last edited by MetalMan2; Jun 27, 2022 at 04:50 PM.
Great info...👍.. but when you think you going to add Arduino. ? I am excited about it
It's in-work
Will be a little challenging, but not too bad. Mostly I just don't have a ton of time to dedicate to it. Currently I'm building up a parts list and setting goals before I generate my schematic and wiring diagram. Then I can get deeper into the code. Just to give you an idea:
With using bidirectional wireless Arduinos, I want them unpowered with ignition off (no extra battery draw), and want a failsafe in case they fail to connect (when ignition is on). In either scenario the horn still needs to function. Currently planning to use SPDT relays in both the steering wheel and car side. Not much room in the steering wheel side but I found a small relay that should fit the bill.
Already figured out the voltage divider setup to read & interpret the C6 steering wheel buttons
From a previous Arduino media controller project, I have the resistor ladder arrangement for the car-side figured out, just need to come up with the right solution for dialing in resistance values. (ideally these resistances would match the C6 wheel buttons).
Great .. so are you going to install the steering wheel than after the Arduino job ? Which way is easy to do ? Do l need to install the Steering wheel or I wait for you until you finish the volume control job ? Another thing are the( nut) for upper shifter C5 work on C6 shifter ?
Great .. so are you going to install the steering wheel than after the Arduino job ? Which way is easy to do ? Do l need to install the Steering wheel or I wait for you until you finish the volume control job ? Another thing are the( nut) for upper shifter C5 work on C6 shifter ?
My steering wheel is already installed. It should be easy enough to add the Arduino stuff afterwards, just would need to pop the airbag out and remove the knee bolster panel. So you don't need to wait to install the C6 steering wheel.
I learned that the C6 can use the C5's steering wheel nut.
My steering wheel is already installed. It should be easy enough to add the Arduino stuff afterwards, just would need to pop the airbag out and remove the knee bolster panel. So you don't need to wait to install the C6 steering wheel.
I learned that the C6 can use the C5's steering wheel nut.
It seemed like the day would never come, but here is a brand new GM C6 airbag. Also showing the extra Express Van airbag from ebay. This time I will make sure the C6 airbag assembly fits my C6 steering wheel nicely before swapping the Express Van airbag into C6 cover.
Some more progress to share on the Arduino steering wheel controls project... all the electronics components that should be needed are on their way. Below is a schematic/functional diagram for the hardware side. Also have started chipping away at the Arduino code.
Some more progress to share on the Arduino steering wheel controls project... all the electronics components that should be needed are on their way. Below is a schematic/functional diagram for the hardware side. Also have started chipping away at the Arduino code.
After install the upper shifter C6 the steering wheel it's a little off not straight ? The upper shifter sit only one way and the steering wheel sit only in the center shifter no other way to sit so l put back the C5 upper shifter with the old steering wheel for test they are perfect in the center ....so I spoke with mechanic he say it's possible not to be perfect because the shifter from different model he say he can fix it that with alignment ... So lam going to take the car to do alignment ..
After install the upper shifter C6 the steering wheel it's a little off not straight ? The upper shifter sit only one way and the steering wheel sit only in the center shifter no other way to sit so l put back the C5 upper shifter with the old steering wheel for test they are perfect in the center ....so I spoke with mechanic he say it's possible not to be perfect because the shifter from different model he say he can fix it that with alignment ... So lam going to take the car to do alignment ..
Nice to see your wheel also installed
That is weird your wheel is sitting so far off-center. I agree there isn't really a way to install the upper shaft and wheel "wrong" so that they would be like this. My C5 wheel was already slightly crooked due to other recent work, but I do think now it's even more off-center than before (just not as much as yours). So I agree, an alignment should be a fine solution.
Lately I managed to spend a good amount of time on the code for the wireless C6 steering wheel buttons control. In fact, my current prototype code should work on the first try. Don't want to be too cocky, though! Still need to build a breadboard set of hardware to test the code.
This picture shows how the unmodified GM C6 airbag fit onto my unmodified C6 steering wheel. Honestly doesn't look to have the greatest fit...
I've already started working on swapping the new single-stage airbag into the C6 cover... so far the new single stage airbag seems like it could be marginally shorter than the previous one so hopefully the new airbag assembly will have better fitment!
EDIT July 13:
I screwed around with the new airbag a bunch. The new assembly (C6 cover + new 2500HD airbag) had marginally better fitment/appearance than the old one. It needed to be better! So I took the C6 steering wheel off the car and dismantled it a bit. The SW's sheet metal plate that the airbag attaches to has a couple areas that I messed around with to bring the airbag cover closer to the steering wheel. Naturally I was in a huge rush and didn't take any pictures, but here's a description of what I did:
yellow circles: There are 3 tabs per black plastic clip, I shortened these tabs ~0.03" (very painstaking process). Then on the backside of the sheet metal plate, I added a similar thickness of shim between the plate and the round/circular side of the black plastic clips. This moves the airbag into the SW by ~0.03".
There are several tabs on the sheet metal's backside which retain the metal wire. These tabs need to be bent away slightly to accommodate the thickness added under the black plastic clips (since the metal wire now sits ~0.03" higher).
orange circles: These are rubber pad spacers that rest against the airbag's metal backing plate, and they need to be trimmed shorter to match the changes mentioned for the yellow circles.
green circles: These torx-head screws are shoulder screws which locate the sheet metal plate to the steering wheel. Therefore they also are the effective mounting mechanism for the airbag, and I also used these to adjust the airbag's position. Behind the torx heads of the shoulder screws are rubber washers.
The white plastic pieces are sort of standoffs used for the horn contacts. I shortened these ~0.04" as I found that it would be okay to do so without negatively impacting the function of all the parts together.
Then I added 0.04" thick of shim washer between the torx heads and rubber washers, so that the standoff height was proper with respect to the height of the screws' shoulders.
Interestingly, after the initial assembly with these modifications the left side of the airbag fit the steering wheel PERFECTLY, but the right side and bottom were sunken in. So I fine-tuned the assembly... I effectively undid the green circle modification to the right and bottom locations and then the airbag fit the steering wheel perfectly all around!
Although it all took ~6 hours to figure all of this out, I am very pleased with the outcome since now the airbag fits as perfectly as a C6 airbag can fit a C6 SW: it's flush to the steering wheel on the left, right, and bottom.
Last edited by MetalMan2; Jul 19, 2022 at 11:29 AM.
Update ,... So the car need Alignment after install C6 steering wheel with shifter and of course nobody mentioned about this in the other fourms
Anyway I spoke with my friend he is a mechanic he can't do the alignment for me because the car doesn't fit and .. he tell me that to make sure to tell the mechanic before you do the alignment that you change the steering wheel and the shifter to C6 because some mechanic they don't do it because they don't know how to do it even... anyway I spoke to three guys they refused to do it finally I find somebody to do .. now the steering wheel in the center and the alignment it's perfect.
