I have a 52 ford f1 column and was wondering what steering wheels will fit or adapt to it. For instance, will the earlier ford keyed wheels fit my spline? How about the early MG wheels? They are similar to a banjo but way cheaper. What have y'all used that didn't break the bank?
Keyed wheels won't as the stock F-1column is splined. I believe Grant still offers an adaptor that will accept the 3 bolt pattern that a lot of aftermarket steering wheel manufacturers use. Having had several F-1's and lots of Brit roadsters I never tried fitting an MG wheel to the F-1, my gut feeling is no, just an opinion though. Good Luck
So if I'm limited to aftermarket or splined ford wheels what years did they make the splined ones? Or maybe cut a key way in my shaft. Just thinking.
Lots of cool wheels you can install with the splines and taper as you have . A Crestliner ,Lincoln and a even the F1 wheel is cool . They started in the 1950s with the spline key in Ford but other manufacturers use the same spline taper key. I have a Oldsmobile accessory wheel with the splines from the 1940s middle pic and bottom is Crestliner. You can also change the shaft with a early one cut weld and pin a new one on.
I just went through this... From what I can tell, when Ford switched to splined steering wheels in '49 they used a 3/4" shaft with a .7" diameter 40 spline to mate with the wheel. They used this well into the late '60s if not beyond so that opens up a lot of choices depending on what you want. If you want a 'flat' wheel, up to '55 will be pretty much it as Ford switched to dished wheels in '56 for 'safety'. There's a lot of cool-looking wheels, the trick is finding the one you like. There are some Repos out there both in stock sizes and reduced-diameter versions if you can't find a repairable used one. All the different adaptor options for Fords has to do with interfacing with the column/turn signal switch/horn wire as Ford changed that stuff up a lot.
I should have also noted that while the different adaptors allow fitting aftermarket wheels to specific columns, if you're using a non-stock factory wheel you'll have to solve any differences yourself. It can be a bit challenging but it isn't impossible either...
Yes both them wheels are splined. Good information @Crazy Steve thank you I do have a 49 or 1950 mercury steering wheel that has a taper key like a 40. So not sure if mercury changed..
Mercury in this period was slow to get all the 'modernization' that was happening at Ford at the time for some reason. By the mid-'50s this was reversed, with Mercury usually getting 'new tech' before Ford did. Little known fact, Mercury had alternators as standard on some models in '63, two years before Ford fully adopted them.
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