Hey gang,
Trying to find the upper/lower plastic covers for the steering wheel. Looking for Grey. I've scoured the internet for a good 2-3hrs now. Parts sites are saying it's discontinued N/A. I found a couple on ebay but.. a little more spendy than what I think a piece of plastic should be (I say that NOW, but I may be convinced it's a deal if I can't find an alternate source.) Pick n' pulls are a bit of a journey to get to for me and the last time I was there = no luck.

Part # could be anyone of these:
45286-35330
45286-35360
45023-35080

Let me know of any ideas - or if you got it layin' around - ideally in good condition of course
(image from a seller on ebay for ref)

 

2 to 3 hours, huh? be ready to spend weeks scouring the internet to find what you want, especially if it is discontinued/NLA. that's the joy of owning 25+ year old toyotas.

 

The new, non-OEM ones sold on ebay are not a good color match, which I found out the hard way. Just keep looking on ebay for a used OEM one in good shape from the right years that your gray matches. Toyota did change their shade of gray at some point between 89-95, so it took me a while to finally find a match for my '92. But you will pay over $50 for ones in good shape without broken screw mounts.

 

Yeah these things are always broken. Mine is. I still haven't found one, it'll just take time.

 

some one you are going to shake your heads but social media, as frustrating and full of idiots as it can be, is a giant resource for parts these days. facebook groups and Instagram especially. as for the color, if its the original light grey is probably turned yellow by now anyways. paint it with some SEM Graphite and itll look good as new.

 

They grey holds up pretty good, never seen one go yellow, these aren't surface pigments they are grey all the way through. Like mentioned above there are two different greys. The odds of finding a SEM grey that matches the original Toyota colors are pretty slim even before we account for any color fade or degradation from.UV exposure. You paint/tint one piece and its going to stand out. This is actually why I went with the charcoal black refinish when I was replacing interior parts, it's going to stand out unless you redo everything and if you go with an accent color it looks intentional rather than "dude why do you have three shades of grey on your dash?".

Fwiw your going to be hard pressed to find intact original dash parts like that clamshell, the self tapping screws tent to seize and your only option is to snap one of the mounts. I've done atleast a dozen, probably more, interior disassemblies in the yard and I probably average about one in four of those covers having seized screws.

 

well, to each their own but if those 6 figure restoration landcruiser guys are using The SEM to match their paints up I think it’s a pretty safe bet. Not sure why your area doesn’t get the yellowing in the interior grey plastics, dang near every 4Runner or pickup I’ve ever seen has had the column and various switch blanks turn a lovely shade of chartreuse. I couldn’t find a great before picture but you can see in this one my column cover pre-paint still in the truck, then after.

Notice the color change

SEM Graphite Grey

 

From what I have seen, the steering column covers for the 1994-1988/89 Trucks and 4Runners don't tend to "yellow" much, but the 1989/90-1995 Trucks and 4Runners "yellow" pretty bad.

 

Mine was broken yesterday. eBay doesn’t have any. I simply took the while darn thing off.

 

They typically break at that "tower" where the screws retain them. I found a plastic cap off a bottle that fit nicely over the tower and glued it in. Then drilled a hole in the center of the cap. Worked great.
Next time i take it off I'll take a photo

 

Mine broke at that point. It seems to be the weakest link. Please do take a picture of your MacGyver makeshift. It will help a lot of us.

 

I've used a straw over what was left of the broken "tower" and filled it with JB Weld, drilled it and good to go as well. I JB Weld the heck out of the broken plastic and it seems to hold up. Been a few years.

 

MacGyver?! Please. Coupla caps and a small tube of adhesive and I have a "Steering Column Cover Repair Kit" just waiting to be retailed for $24.95 on our favorite internet sites.
The first 149 buyers will get a chance to buy a second kit for 15% off. A slight handling charge of $9.95 will be added to compensate me for the discount.

I took it off today and took pictures. I'm pretty sure the cap came off my pump sprayer for lubricating oil rings. Nothing special. I remember being shocked how well it fit. I used Silicone adhesive to install. i wanted something relatively easy to remove in case it didn't hold up. Been good for 2-3 years.
The nice thing about the cap is it "sleeved" the rest of that tower to give it strength further down

 

That’s awesome, Jimkola. I’ve even dremeled a good tower out of an otherwise junk one and superglued it where i needed it.
Throw out nothing when it comes to 36 year old Toyota interior plastic.