Broaching a steering wheel

[keithwahl]

Anybody know of a machine shop that could broach a steering wheel
Converting a 3/4 diameter spline hole to a 7/8 hole with 35 teeth?
Curious

Keith Wahl

[bensherb]

I don't know what steering wheel you want to rework, but my '62 GT wheel does not have enough metal in it's hub to go out that far safely. Take a very close look at your hub first. I wanted to rework my GT wheel to fit a different column, but it just doesn't have enough hub to be altered.

[Mike Van Veghten]

I doubt anyone would tackle that task...no matter how much that you state, "lets give it a try". If the hub breaks out of the wheel plastic Which...IT WILL, he's gonna be afraid you will sue him.
It takes a lot of force to broach metal.

Save yourself the headache, find another wheel...

Mike

[Colgate Studebaker]

I have my '64 GT wheel "adapted" to an '86 Camaro tilt column, and it wasn't easy. I had the Camaro wheel center removed from the wheel and turned down on a lathe. Then the GT wheel was mounted in a mill and the center was removed to the dimension that the Camaro center was cut down to After several trial and error fitments of the Camaro center into the Hawk wheel the pieces were tig welded together, very carefully. The result is that the Stude wheel fits on the Camaro column, we'll have to see if it will hold up, but I'm optimistic about the end result. Bill

[Cruzzar]

Colgate, Keithwahl wants to go the other way, put a late model wheel onto a stock column. I too have installed a Studebaker wheel (65 Lark) onto a GM tilt column for my '53 wagon that I am working on (see pics). The only way I see to install a late model wheel onto a Studebaker spline is to remove the steel spline hub from a junk steering wheel and build an aluminum spacer that would bolt to it. This would not be too difficult if a metal lathe is available. Attaching that hub onto the late model steering wheel would be the challenge. You would have to indicate the late model wheel in a mill, face off the back side to get a flat register and then see if you can match up the hole for the horn and and then locate three holes for bolts to hold the new wheel onto the spacer that you made. This is the basic way I did my adaptation but I can't be specific because I don't know what wheel you will be using. Understand that the thickness of the spacer will move the wheel closer to you but this should not be a problem.

[bensherb]

I have my '64 GT wheel "adapted" to an '86 Camaro tilt column, and it wasn't easy. I had the Camaro wheel center removed from the wheel and turned down on a lathe. Then the GT wheel was mounted in a mill and the center was removed to the dimension that the Camaro center was cut down to After several trial and error fitments of the Camaro center into the Hawk wheel the pieces were tig welded together, very carefully. The result is that the Stude wheel fits on the Camaro column, we'll have to see if it will hold up, but I'm optimistic about the end result. Bill

This is exactly what I was going to do with my '62 wheel, but the metal hub portion of the '62 wheel is only about 1/8" thick; not having enough material to bore out and weld into. Also the GM wheel portion to install into it would have to be very thin.

[bensherb]

Keith, what you can do is modify the steering column shaft itself. Remove the 3/4" spline section and weld on the 7/8" spline section. If done properly it will be stronger than it originally was. BUT, in order to assemble / disassemble the column bell assembly, it needs to be able to slide off the shaft, which it can't do if the spline is larger than the shaft, so further modification of the column will be needed. It can be cut free from the steering box, modified to function as an independent unit (as most modern columns do) so the shaft can be installed from the top and reattached to the steering box with a coupler. Generally and independent column will have a bearing at the bottom between the shaft and outer tube and its outer tube attached to the floor/firewall or fitted through a tight fitting grommet to curb its movement depending on how the shaft is coupled.

WAIT! You want to put the 3/4" wheel on the 7/8" shaft. Forget the last half above. With the 3/4" spline shaft end welded into the 7/8" shaft you should be good to go.

[63r2]

Ford steering wheels and columns have the same spline count. If you have a collapsible column you may be able to seperate the pieces and add the ford section to the top or have the top shaft made to suit.
I recently had to add a collapsible steering column to my Avanti. I seperated a GM collapsible shaft, got the Avanti steering shaft cut to size and milled to suit the bottom GM section ( so it can still slide and collapse )and re assembled. No welding required and I modified the outer column aswell so it all looks stock.

[bensherb]

Ford steering wheels and columns have the same spline count. If you have a collapsible column you may be able to seperate the pieces and add the ford section to the top or have the top shaft made to suit.
I recently had to add a collapsible steering column to my Avanti. I seperated a GM collapsible shaft, got the Avanti steering shaft cut to size and milled to suit the bottom GM section ( so it can still slide and collapse )and re assembled. No welding required and I modified the outer column aswell so it all looks stock.

This is true, the 3/4" Ford and 3/4" Stude are the same spline. But it does not solve his problem. He wants to put a 3/4" splined steering wheel on the 7/8" shaft.

[63r2]

Got it.
Try Flaming River or the like. They may have an adaptor ready to go.