In my case I have a 1950 Plymouth steering wheel, and a GM column, but applies to anyone using a strange combination. The splines and diameters are different on the column and wheel, so how have you made a combination like this work? Do I just have to break down and buy a custom splined column from Flaming River/ididit/Borgeson? Thanks in advance, Ben
Count the splines inside that Plymouth wheel. If it's the same as a '50 Chrysler, it's some odd count like 40 (adding a spline for each blind spot). Borgeson can't help. I just modified a Ford gear with 36 spline for a guy who wanted to install a Chrysler wheel. He had to find an early Chrysler gear so we could salvage (and splice) the splined end.k
I would cut the splined end off a junk column with the right splines, and weld it to your existing column. I think that's what Dale was saying as well.
On my '40 Ford wheel, I picked up a junkyard chev. wheel and removed the splined center and welded it into the Ford wheel.
I put my 53 buick wheel on a later GM column buy swapping the splined hub on the wheel, into the buick wheel, then welded it up. Remember to align the horn piece sticking out of the column with the wheels straight and mark the hub and new wheel to line it up to weld. If you don't, the only way to straighten the wheel is at the steering box.
You have three options: 1. Replace the splined portion of the steering wheel with one that fits your column 2. Cut the splined shaft at the top of your column and weld on a piece of splined shaft that fits your steering wheel 3. Do what I did: make a new center for your steering wheel that will bolt up to a standard 3-bolt steering wheel adapter (Grant, etc.). 4. Get a different steering wheel. The only advantage to #3 is that it lets you change the depth of the steering wheel if you need to. I made mine several inches more shallow than it was originally. However, if your column is a 1969 or newer GM column, older steering wheels won't fit without some sort of adapter collar because the diameter of the newer columns are bigger than the older ones. That is the other reason I did option #3. (I posted a tech about it, with some photos, and you can see that it's not that tough to do.)
Thanks guys, Atomickustom, this must be the post you're talking about? http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=120327 Very nice. I think I'll probably go that route too. Ben
Atomickustom=great idea, and tech info. What method did you use to cut out center of old, to be installed, steering wheel? Was that wheel steel-pot metal-aluminum? Any problems with welding on new center? Thanks in advance.
Thanks for the kudos, guys. At the time all I got was "Why would you do that??" comments. I used a high-tech device called a "hack saw" to cut the center out of the old steering wheel. They have a steel spoke around 3/8 inch diameter buried in the plastic. You can clamp down the center in a vise, because you're going to toss it anyway. Once the center is cut out, I used the hacksaw again to cut the plastic down to the metal spoke about 1 inch up from the original cut, then broke that plastic up with a razor knife and/or screwdriver. (Can't remember which). It kind of crumbles a little at a time. Once the new steel plate was welded to the spokes, and the Grant adapter collar was tacked to the same plate from behind, I just used fibergl***-reinforced bondo to give everything nice smooth curves again. You have to look VERY close at the second photo to see the plate, and where it it MIG welded to the original steering wheel spokes. It was just a flat plate. You could make the wheel deeper by bending the tabs on the plate, or by cutting the spokes closer to the center (on a dished wheel). In this case I made the wheel several inches more shallow than it was. No problems at all welding in the new center. Just be careful not to weld too long on one spoke without cooling it - the plastic gets very soft when it's hot! I stopped to spray it with a mist of water from a Windex bottle to keep it from falling apart. On the plus side, the plastic was very easy to trim while it was still warm. I think there may have been some potmetal in the original wheel center, but the spokes and rim are steel, covered with very thick plastic. I have now driven the car a few times a week for a year, and there are no cracks at all around the center. Of course, the car has power steering so I don't exactly have to get too rough with it, either. The only hard part at all is getting the plate centered in the steering wheel. I experimented with having it offset upward, but it felt too weird going around turns. I know there were cars with out-of-round wheels in the 1960s, but I've never owned one!
I have a 49 Ford wheel that I put a spline out of a late model GM in. This was years ago. Now I have a mid 60's Mopar box that I want to use with this wheel. Obviously the splines are different. Any suggestions on going about hooking this up?
Aren't most steering column shafts 3/4" OD? Welding the GM lower shaft to the Plymouth upper shaft, sliding a sleeve over the weld, doing a few rosette welds through the sleeve into both shafts and then welding the end of the sleeve should do it. Just make sure your welding skills are up to the task. A TIG would probably be the way to go here. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cutting new splines is a good way to go. Most machine shops can handle that. What's the OD of the Plymouth shaft and spline count at the steering wheel end? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If the Plymouth shaft is 3/4" OD, you could use that in the GM column jacket and there may be no welding or cutting required if it's long enough - and it probably is. Just a little sliding the jacket up and down till it's where it needs to be may do the job.
I adapted a repo 51 chev '****erfly' wheel to a Mr Roadster column. It had a 3/4" diam shaft with a very course splined quick-release on it. We worked out the spline (std GM 36 spline)of the wheel and then I took it to a friend of mine with a machine shop where he removed the quick-release then splined the shaft to the GM 36spline and on the last 1" we put a 5/8" (from memory) UNC thread so a nut could be spun on. This whole process took 3/4 of an hour. That way there was no join in the shaft and the spline etc was all hidden in the recess on the back of the wheel.
For everybodys information there is 2 different splines on GM... The bigger one is Cadillac, Buick, Olds. The smaller one is Chevy, Pontiac.
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