TILTLOK Fatman steering wheel

Well I finally received my steering wheel from ebay. I know i know, but thats the only place i could find it. So this will be going in my 27 drag coupe.

 

So what column would this go on?

 

wow that thing is crazy i have never seen such a thing ! awesome !

 

Those are cool. One of my buddies has one in an early Dodge Bros. car and it works good.

 

Nice find! Very popular T accessory in the day and a really nice example- are you going to restore/replace the rim?
Don't know if I would want that in a drag coupe, but congrats!

 

I have a Lockwheel fatman that is similar. It appears the key would disable the steering to let the wheel spin? My Lockwheel is the same.

 

I'd bet , that if someone made them,that they would sell ..I want one..
you say fatman makes them?? i'll have to check it out..

 

Whatever you modify! May I ask what the going rate is these days? Always thought those were a cool accessory.

 

no fatman is what they were called if you evr sat in a stock model t there is not any room for a fat guy, so many companies built a tilting steering wheel, i bet there were hundreds of companies in theearly days, i used to collect and deal with them in the 80's, saw many variations,one was foldable wheel. kind of lik a umbrella, you could take it off and and fold it up put it in your pocket

 

Never heard of one before, but that is so cool!
Great find!

 

Thanks guys. Yeah it will be going in my 27 t drag coupe. I have seen perfect ones that go for as much as $600. I paid a little under $400 for mine with shipping. I think it was a good deal.

 

I still cant figure out what the knob is on the face of the wheel. Also cant figure out how the key and lock works

 

The knob should be the horn ****on. The key should engage a pin into the center hub to turn the wheels when the steering wheel is turned. Disengaged the steering whell freewheels, for theft protection.

 

Yeah i know that but i cant figure out the lock.

 

Are you positive the key is correct? Lube the lock with some Gibbs, it may be frozen. I just realised an unknown brand steering column I bought at Hershey last year has a lockable wheel on it too. Similar to yours but does not tilt it is from the Spenser Co. Sorry, I can't post pics. So far I haven't been able to take the whel off the column either.

 

Nobod im positive the key is for the wheel. The key turns its not seized or anything. Does the wheel have to be on a column to lock?

 

56, You need to see a stock T steering column to understand how the wheel works. The steering box is under the wheel not at the bottom of the column. The center housing screws on to the T steering box casting, and the lock somehow jams the three planetary gears in it. I just did a quick look around and I think I eBay'd all my columns. Cleck the Lang's old Car Parts website, they carry all the repo T parts you'll need. the stub shaft the wheel connects to is what you'll need to weld onto your column, or turn up a solid one once you see how things go.................Just remembered my '12 is out in the garage, all T's used this basic steering box design.

 

The37kid, thats exactly what i have been trying to figure out! thanks for the info.

 

I don't think your wheel is for a model T. First, the rim of a T wheel is below the hub when it is mounted on the steering column. Second, what I can see of the lower mounting, it does not look like a model T. The steering shaft on a T is 3/4 inch od, with a key, and a nut on top. The top of the steering column itself is almost 3 inches od, and threaded on the OD. The fatman wheels that were offered for Fords, used a hub design similar to Ford (rim below the mounting hub) and generally replaced the top of the steering box. What you have is probably for a Dodge.

 

Are you sure? I think mine is for a ford.

 

Here are some pics of the back of the wheel and the hub.

 

Early Dodge Brothers would be for a 7/8 shaft with two 1/4 inch keys 180 degrees apart.

 

Im going to start looking for a clumn. I want to get all my steering and front end put together.

 

There was one of those in similar condition for sale at a local swap meet for $100 a year or two ago. I couldn't make my mind up as to whether or not I wanted it and walked away. My buddy wound up buying it for $85.00. You snooze, you lose........

 

You'd really like this T column, it is stamped DB. For the new guys Dodge Brothers stamped most of the parts they made for Ford with a DB. They were a parts sub and early investors in Ford, when things got good they sold their stock back to Ford and started building Dodge cars.

 

Smart boys !

 

I never knew that, learn something new everyday. See I want to get this to fit on a column that i got from limeworks speed shop but i have no idea on how to do so.

 

Supposedly the only $$ Henry ever borrowed was to get rid of the Dodge Boys. They had accepted cash and stock for their parts for long enough that they could have done a hostile takeover and bought out Henry. The DBs had over 5000 employees at the time. And the rest is history.

 

Wow thats crazy

 

Just imagine what nice, well-built 4 cylinder engines he would have had, had he kept those two around ...