I am still looking for a way to safely adapt a splined steering wheel to an aftermarket 3 hole steering column. My buddy has a 57 Chevy wheel that would look great on my 51 Dodge truck Custom but I cannot find a solution. Help!
how about a picture of the top of that column? Perhaps it has a 3 hole adapter on the end of a splined shaft, and you just have to remove the adapter? other than that, I have no idea what you are describing...
Yes , I agree with Jim. A pic because your missing something here unless somebody cooked up their own concoction/modification . An undo might be in question here
Unless there is an adaptor available, machine up a plate with 3 holes in and weld a splines stub to it to the take the wheel.
This is what I did. The shaft is welded inside the outer sleeve to the base on the top side as well as the bottom. The sleeve is just for spacing.
the only adapter available is the opposite of what I need. K13's looks safe to me, that is what bothers me but that piece looks stout. Thanks. I guess my next step is to find a spline.
Great fix! ^^^^^ Logical and sanitary. Before the new posters scream about "Welded Steering!!! Oh No!" take into consideration that this is on the 'advantage end' of the gearing, not on the 'road end'.... Good tech.
"And another thing:" Manufacturer of the steering mast should offer an assortment of a part to these specs, in case of situations like this...
Hate to post "the obvious" but if you're making one of these plate-to-spline adapters make sure that the Master Spline on the shaft stub is rotated to agree with the final position of where you want the steering wheel before you weld it all together. Most steering wheels that I've bought / sold / swapped had one wide spline that would only let the steering wheel mate up to the shaft in one position.
Why you'd want to put a Chevy steering wheel on a Dodge is up to you, but when I bought a set of 59 Cadillac taillights for my '49 Dodge flatbed truck a friend kept insisting on repeating the old dealership parts counter slogan of "Keep Your Mopar ALL Mopar". I ended up using a set of 61 Plymouth Fury taillights instead (and was glad that I did). Just keeping you on your toes!
the 50s Chevy steering wheels do not have an index spline, so that's not a problem. Neat column....but it's not what you need, how about you buy or make a column that is what you need?
My adaptor cost me less that $10 and about 1/2hr to make. I couldn't buy/make a column that would work for anywhere near that amount or time and if like me the OP already has the column it would be going backwards.
If you're committed to buying an aftermarket column, why not just get one with the desired splined end? There are lots of 'em out there.
For the guys worried abut the weld breaking. If the vehicle has power steering the effort to turn the wheel is usually less than 3 lbs. Non power could be whatever!
I have the column installed, the 51 Dodge truck is far from all Mopar. Check out the picture. The grill is Desoto, the Bumpers Cadillac, the headlight trim Packard, the rear fenders 47 Chevrolet, not pictured the tail lights are 59 Edsel. The chassis is an S10. I guess I could spend another 400 bucks and put a column that matches the wheel but not going to do that.
I love that this is a total Frankenstein. It's your car, do whatever the F you want. Let the purists do their car, their way. If it runs and you like it, it's perfect
You could just change the shaft in the center of the column to the one for the 55-57 Chevy. That would only cost you $60 and a couple hours. Is that the tapered spline with lock nut for the wheel?
I doubt that we would be allowed to do that down here with our certification process. Something about welding mild steel to high tensile steering shaft. We would probably have to machine up a splined adapter out of similar material to the steering shaft.
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