96 Dakota steering wheel

I have a 96 Dakota that I want to replace the steering wheel with an aftermarket wheel. When I searched summits website they don’t list an install kit for a 96. I have an 88 Dakota column in my street rod with an aftermarket steering wheel. Is there a difference in the years? Has anyone put a different steering wheel in there 96 Dakota?

The steering columns changed in 91 with the addition of the driver side air bag. The air bag mounting and activation system required wiring changes under the steering wheel. From 91 on, the Dakota column received a "clockspring" which all the power for the buttons on the steering wheel rant through. Nothing on the top of the 91 and newer column interchanges with anything from a 90 or older.

With the air bag addition, exchanging the OEM wheel presented issues with modifying the safety features of the vehicle.

So I need to swap in an 87-90 column, not concerned about the safety features

having torn apart many steering columns over the years, including those with airbags, i would remove the wheel [be very careful removing the airbag !] then compare the base diameter and the spline count to see if an adapter exists for another application that would fit your column.
with that said, how are your fabrication skills ?
several times, i have taken the [an] original steering wheel and cut the hub from it, chucked the hub in the lathe, and made an adapter for an aftermarket steering wheel.
this usually isn't a 15 minute job, and takes a little thought at times, figuring out how to incorporate the horn wire [and any others you wish to use if applicable].
not an impossible job, but it will require one to have the wheel you want to use on hand to decide the appropriate course of action to take.

The safety features is the reason no one makes adaptors to mount aftermarket wheels to air bag columns. The fed government has long fingers with manufacturers when auto related stuff is involved.

You will have to make your own adaptor. I have an adaptor from a pre air bag Dakota and it did not match up to the 91+ steering shaft. Its been a couple years, so I can't remember what the problems were. I just stuck with the 91+ wheel. I believe one of the problems was the steering shaft is longer with the air bag, so the there would have been a sizable gap between an aftermarket wheel and the top of the column. I know I didn't dig too deep into it.

I know you will have to remove the clock spring and its wiring. The horn wire runs through the clock spring (and is usually the first thing to fail on the clock spring), so a remote horn button may be required.

The steering columns changed in 91 with the addition of the driver side air bag.

My truck is a '93 and has no airbags.

'94 was the first year for an airbag, and I believe that was also the same year the wiring changed to OBDII.

having no airbag to mess with helps things considerably.
one thing i noticed playing with late[er] columns, most are saginaw made. that opens up the options for using gm aftermarket wheels and adapters.
however, you will have to confirm the spline count and taper matches your column if you go that route, as well as the diameter of the column cover under the wheel.

So I went to the junkyard today and pulled a column from a 92, no airbag

I have heard that a mid 80 chevy truck steering wheel adapter will work on our Dakotas. I have a 96 sport that I also want to change the ugly stock 96 steering wheel on my dakota.also be ready to do some rewiring. The ingtion switch and wiring is different compared to the 91 and 96 . My truck started out as a 91 sport that I striped down to the frame to rebuild and paint. When I removed the cab I found out thst the rear cab mounts on the 91 were allmost rusted off. So I found a rust free 96 sport cab and bed I pit on my 91 frame. I found out the 91 steering column switch and wiring were different when I tried to put the 91 column into the 96 cab. If I remember right the 96 key switch has one or two plugs that plug right into the key switch and on the 91 the key switch has the plug about 6 inches away from the key switch. I was going to rewire it for the 91 but at the time I didn't feel like messing with it. If you can get both year wiring diagrams it shouldn't be to hard to rewire.

saginaw = GM, so the mid 80's chevy truck adapter could be the one to use.
just from my experience, i have tried the GM adapters i have here [unknown years] on several early K cars and minivans without airbags, and the spline count and taper are the same. those columns are made by saginaw.

Well looks like I was wrong. I looked it up and it shows the switch working on dakotas from 91 to 96. I must of been thinking about my 87 parts dakota I have. So sorry for the confusion on my part.

FWIW, I bought an 87 Dakota that still has its original column but the seller kept the wheel. I bought a 92 wheel (no airbag) off craigslist and mounted onto the 87 column so I could steer the 87 around when I move it. I didn't have any issues but it's not Carlisle gold standard either. Probably doesn't help your situation though.