I bought a '56 Chevy steering wheel to put on the tilt column in my '40 coupe. With a 525 GM steering box (new Borgeson) I want a larger diameter wheel for more leverage. Is the spline different between the earlier wheels and the later ( late 70s to early 80s, maybe Camaro) tilt column? I appreciate any info you have. Thanks.
I like that approach too. Nothing like vintage wheel with a GM tilt. I have done two of those. The firs was a '53 Chevy pickup wheel on a tilt. The spline fit perfectly, U just had to cut the back off the wheel so the shaft could seat in the splined hole and epoxy/bondo a steel circle to mold the wheel to the large diameter column. The second was a '40 Plymouth wheel on a tilt. Had to do the same reforming of the back side of the wheel but also had to 'respline' the hole. It was the same diameter as the GM shaft but the splines seemed a bit different. I resplined the hole myself as shown below. Finshed adaption. Had to shorten back like on the '53. Then had to make an adaptor plate and bondo form the transition. I looked around for a shop to cut new splines and struck out. Decided to make my own spline tool. I bought a stub tilt shaft on ebaY. Very common there. I cut the spline tip off the shaft, mounted it in my lathe , and cut a couple stepped diameters on the splines. Theory was to force the tool through the wheel and the successive larger spline diameters would gently cut the new splines perfectly. With the shaft most likely a heat treatable steel alloy, I heated the new tool red hot and quenched it in water. This would give me the hardest cutting tool possible. Next step was to force the cutting tool through the hole in the wheel. It worked perfectly!!
GM wheels 1940s-90s same spline on most of them. Chevys from late 30s I think... pretty easy to get the splines to match, but the horn contact and turn signal cancelling can cause issues at times. Early wheels are smaller where they meet the top of the column, among other issues.
Thanks for the detailed response. I was thinking of broaching new splines, but hoping for something easier and quicker.
It should work fine. The spline is correct. Little stuff like turn signal cancel cam and Horne may be an issue. Have a 58 vette on my flaming rive column. Only issues were the horn. I think the repo horn cap kit is the problem. I just yell loudly if I need a horn.
With a bit of fooling around and fabrication I got the horn on the '40 Plymouth horn mechanism to work on the GM column.
I had blasted the spline in the column with "cracked glass" in my cabinet, which usually barely affects the surface finish. In this case I could feel a little texture. I took a small triangle file and touched up some of the splines. When I get all of them, I'll try again.
I bought a Speedway column a while back that GM spline on it, which were 3/4"-36 spline. I wanted to put a Ford wheel on the column, which was 3/4"-40. I had the idea of how to do it, but at the time lacked a drill press with a deep enough throat (before I got my Bridgeport). My pal Rob Ida was able to take care of it for me. I'll post some pics of it when I get up to the shop and get some shots of it and how it was done.
I put a 2000 Chevy truck tilt column in my '39 Chev coupe, and then bolted on a 1953 Chev 18" steering wheel. It fit perfect!
I've seen a few steering wheels that had the center machined out and a new one with the needed splines installed with a keyway and TIG welded in.
Major props to @57JoeFoMoPar for actually providing the spline size and count!! I am just about to check into what's needed to adapt a quick release on my project. This should help!
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