External Connections for Xbox 360 Steering Wheel buttons and gear shifters

Adding six external phono plug connections for joypad buttons and gear shifter pads on the Xbox 360 wheel. These are to connect external gear shifters and hand brake systems.

Parts Required:

  • Xbox 360 Steering Wheel
  • Six phono sockets, screw mounting in the following colours: White, Black, Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow.

 

Stage 1: Removal of the Wheel circuit board.

Stage 2: Connect wires to the wheel circuit board

Connect approx 60cm lengths of wire to the board as shown in the images below: Internal Wheel Board wire connections

Board with instructions

Wires Connected

wheel board connected

Reassemble the wheel and feed the new wires through the hole in the centre.

Stage 3: Connect the 3 ground wires to the radio circuit board.

These wires are very close together, be careful when soldering to the board. You could cut the wires and join further along if this would be easier.

Internal Connector

The wires on this connector are in the following order:

  1. Black
  2. Green
  3. Green
  4. Green
  5. Green
  6. Orange - Ground Point 3 - Gray Wire to connectors
  7. Orange - Ground Point 2 - White Wire to connectors
  8. Orange - Ground Point 1 - Black Wire to connectors
  9. Orange
  10. Yellow
  11. Yellow
  12. Black
  13. Black
  14. Blue
  15. Blue
  16. Blue
  17. Blue
  18. Red
  19. Red
  20. Black

Stage 4: Fix phono connectors in case

Drill 6 holes in the left grey side panel to take the phono sockets.

 

External-Button

Stage 5: Solder wires to new sockets

Connect the new wires to the phono sockets

Connections

White Socket - Gear Shifter Paddle

Centre Connector: Orange Wire
Outside Connector: Grey Wire

Black Socket - Gear Shifter Paddle

Centre Connector: Brown Wire
Outside Connector: White Wire

Red Socket - Red Pad Button

Centre Connector: Red Wire
Outside Connector: Black Wire

Green Socket - Green Pad Button

Centre Connector: Green Wire
Outside Connector: Grey Wire

Blue Socket - Blue Pad Button

Centre Connector: Blue Wire
Outside Connector: Black Wire

Yellow Socket - Yellow Pad Button

Centre Connector: Yellow Wire
Outside Connector: Black Wire

Stage 6: Put it all back together

Reassemble the wheel and connect your gear shifter switches or handbrake to the new sockets.

Extra Notes: I have received reports that some people are having problems with the d-pad not working after doing this mod. I have tested this and have found that if the leads to the switches are too long (over 1m seems to do it) it can cause the d-pad to fail to work 100% of the time.