Anyone re doing steering wheels? I'm talking about a steel out side rim. I shortened a 39 Banjo by welding a ring from a junkyard pickup to the spokes and sending it to someone in Ohio i believe and he put the plastic back on the rim.
49olds. tried steeringwheelkris.com, sorry, would not go thru. Might need more info than what i tried.
Dennis Crooks. https://qualityrestorations.com/ He did this a couple years ago. Not cheap, but very nice work.
Professional repair is very expensive. I can't find it now, but I saw a video online years ago where a guy used fake marble Corian countertop material to fabricate a completely new rim. He stripped all of the original material off the rim. Next, he got two pieces of Corian big enough to cover the wheel, then by using a router with a couple different bits and a circle-cutting fixture cut out two halves which he then glued together over the original steel core (using the special Corien glue). You could then paint it if desired, but he polished the Corian and had a 'marble-rimmed' wheel by using color-matched glue. Corian isn't inexpensive, but he got s****s from a countertop installer for cheap. Worked pretty slick.
Some DIY info here: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/how-i-made-a-banjo-wheel.344222/#post-3717028 https://jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/cutting-down-my-banjo-wheel.1015792/
That's probably where the guy that I saw got the idea. Although he used the Corian without paint because he liked the color/pattern. And Corian is pretty tough too, after all it's used as a countertop.
I follow a guy on Fakebook called “The steering wheel guy”. I think he’s in Canada. Anyways, he shows lots of pics and if you look back at his posts, he explains his process. Looks like he does nice work and does expensive wheels. I used his techniques on my banjo wheel and it totally makes sense and doable.
The Steering wheel guy is in Alberta. He's been doing it for years. He did a mopar wood grain wheel for me and it turned out awesome.
Wasn't there a place in Australia maybe, Pearlcraft? that did steering wheel re-dos? Don't know if they are still around as it's been a while since I've seen anything about them, but their work was incredible.
Go to www.pearlcraft.com.au and see a full gallery of their steering wheels and another gallery of for sale. Might want to put your sungl***es on.
This was originally black bakelite. It was beyond repair so I copied the shape in Mahogany. All the steering gear in boats back then was sourced from the automotive industry, this wheel was used on cars, trucks, tractors, boats, anything that needed a steering wheel. In boats the lever is the throttle.
Steering wheel I just finished up for my 31' Chrysler coupe that I've been working on. The dash & steering column/steering wheel is out of a 46' Chrysler Town & Country. The original 18" diameter wheel was a little to big. The car is chopped and channeled. I rolled a 1" od piece of tube to 15"od diameter. I wanted to keep the 46' Chrysler theme so I gutted the original steering wheel and used only the center splined hub & center cap horn ***embly & bottom chrome hub housing. The horn ring is out of a 46' Plymouth. I replicated the 46' Plymouth 3-spokes to match the horn ring. I also made the spokes triangular shaped like the originals. The bottom chrome piece that houses the hub is original 46' Chrysler. Lot of work! Turned out awesome! I may wrap it in leather or something when it's all done.
If you don't need major repairs, bowling ball putty works very well. Had a friend that used it several times with great success.
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