Will a 49 Merc steering wheel fit on a 40 Ford column? Thinking about getting one to replace my worn out orig wheel! If its a bunch of trouble I will go a different direction! Thanks in advance for the Amazing HAMB advice!
If the Merc wheel is splined, it will not fit without machining the steering wheel hub. FYI, I have a 67 Vette steering wheel hub that has been machined to fit a 40 Ford steering shaft. About the time I was going to use it, Bob Drake introduced a 40 Ford reproduction wheel. I don't know what other wheels will bolt up to the Corvette hub, but if you're interested I might consider selling it.
49-51's mercs are all keyed. it should fit, unless the shaft is too short and it bottoms on the cone first..
I have a '37-'39 Ford Standard/pickup wheel on a '77 Monte Carlo tilt column in my '38 Ford pickup. The shaft is splined but the taper is the same as Henry's keyed shaft. Had a keyway cut into the GM shaft.
No. The Merc wheel is keyed, as Matt said, and the GM wheel is splined. But, I am in the process of working it out to convert a Merc wheel to fit the GM column (without some sort of adapter). I'll let you know when (not if...LOL) I get it worked out. I've lost lots of sleep over it and nearly have it worked out, even with the horn working through the Merc horn ring. Will require a machine shop however....
Ooooo, I shoulda read below John's post before I replied. I set the Merc wheel I was talking about in the post above on my GM column and was surprised to find that the crazy thing nearly fit. So, a keyway cut into the GM shaft works? Like, it works "right" and is safe? No offense and in no way implying you did something "wrong"...I'm just curious if it tightens down tight on the spline or if the key is doing most of the work (I'm no machinist by any stretch, thus my question). Now I'm really gonna lose sleep tonight hoping I'm already halfway home!
ive done it to a 60's ford column also. i machined (cut off wheel on a dremel) in the keyway and used a 46 wheel on my first 50 merc, worked great, never had a problem.
Saaaweeeeeeet! When I slid the merc wheel on my gm column I couldn't believe how nice it fit and thought too bad about the spline/key thing, cuz the shaft seemed to fit nice inside the wheel's taper at just the right depth. Well, I will just go ahead and cut the keyway into the spline and call it good. Now the only thing I have to do is make the nylon piece I have figured out to set up the horn ring and it's good to go.
I have a 49 merc wheel on my 46 coupe. The only thing I did was cut about 1/2 inch off the bottom of the steering column tube. Also the keyway slot is 180 degrees off from the original wheels. In other words when the wheels are straight the steering wheel is upside down. Hope this helps. Matt
Bringing this back up. I want to use my 49 merc wheel on my stock 46 column that now has the correct column drop w/ lock and 3spd shifter on the column. originally I didn't worry, but now it seems like it bottoms out before the taper. I have seen the 49-50 merc wheel used on Sam Foose's custom 47 coupe and on the Stardust 40 merc. They both used the stock column with 3spd shifter. does anyone know ow they got it to all work correctly? Thanks Matt
If the keyway slot is 180* out why can't you just file another slot on the wheel to fit the keystock?
I'm not really sure how to get it tight on the taper as the wheel bottoms out against the "bell" of the column before the taper is tight. Matt
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