Hi all,

I am in the process of restoring my 1989 Camaro. The cruise control/windshield wiper/turn signal arm is very faded, cracked, and overall broken and shabby. I've already got the replacement, I just don't know how to proceed.

Is this a difficult task? Will I have to take the whole column apart? Or is this more simple than it looks?

 

It's not super hard. You'll need a tool to pull off the steering wheel though. Not sure if your car has an airbag or not. I've only replaced the arm on a non air bag column. If you do a Search you'll probably find a thread on how to do it.

 

It's easy to remove the stock, just pull it straight out. The trick is to hook and tape a wire to the single electrical connector under the dash before you pull out the connector of the column. Then you can use the wire to pull the new connector down the same hole.

 

No need to remove the steering wheel or open up the column.89 should probably just have a short pigtail, disconnects at the column.Early 3rd gens have the single harness that goes down the column, under dash, where it unplugs.

The stalk just pulls out, firmly, but gently so you don't damage the pigtail.

 

Could you elaborate a bit more on this?

 

There is a long 2-pin wire for the cruise control that runs down the column under the dash. It's gonna be easy to pull the old wire up and out, and impossible to push the new one back down the rabbit hole. I am suggesting that you use the up pull of the OLD wire that's attached to the stalk in order to pull up a temporary "pulling" wire so that you can attached the NEW stalk wire to the temporary so that you can pull it back down.

 

I have done this in a number of my older GM vehicles and it is super easy. Like eseibel said find where the cruise wire plugs in under the dash and tie a piece of wire or twine to it. When you pull the old stalk out the wire/twine will come out too and then tie the wire/twine to the new cruise wire and feed it back through.

When I did this to my '93 suburban it took me about 15 minutes start to finish. The hardest part is pulling the damn stalk out since they like to stay put.

 

Thank you very much!!!

 

Thank you very much!

 

I have pulled my stalk/cruise & reinserted it many times over the years.Just did this 2 days ago in fact.Ten minute job, no wires used.
The harness is rather rigid & doesn't bend easily.Sometimes I get on the initial try, sometimes not.The sticking point is right where the tilt mechanism is, once past it, easy as pie.

 

I appreciate your advice!