Steering wheel restorer

[studelover]

Has anyone every used a company to restore the steering wheel in a hawk? The Shrock brothers do not restore 61 hawk steering wheels yet. I have called a couple of companies and they do not restore our wheels.

Studebakers forever!

[Scott]

I have the name of an excellent restorer, but it's at home and I am not there right now. Tonight, I can probably find it. I can almost remember the name...

For full restoration be prepared to spend as much as $1000.

[62champ]

If you check with vendors, you should be able to find an NOS copy. '61 is the first year of the "new" wheels that went all the way through 1966.

I gave $90 for this wheel back in 2003.



Good luck

1960 Lark VI - finally turned 50k in August of 2006

[Scott]

Now I remember the name: Don Eash. Here is the contact information:

D&D Automobilia, 813 Ragers Hill Rd. South Fork, PA 15956. (814) 539-5653. Repair of clear steering wheels. Don & Donna Eash.

He does much more than just clear wheels.

[S2DSteve]

Or....you could restore it yourself. JB Weld or any other 2-part epoxy works very well as a filler/repair material. File and sand to finish, paint your favorite color and you're good to go.


Steve Hudson
The Dalles, Oregon
1937 Dictator Streetrod
1949 "GMOBaker" 1-T Dually
1953 Commander Convertible
1954 Champion Coupe

[Champion51]

I also did as S2DSteve with the epoxy filler. First, you will probably want to 'open up' the fine cracks with a small carving bit on your Dremel. I cut each crack at least 3/16" deep and filled with an epoxy filler. Do this to give your filler some "grab" and then sand. Wheel turned out very good for a non-professional job, in fact, darn near like new! You'll need a good eye and a steady hand. Good luck!

Dave D.
'51 4-dr Champion
Smithers, B.C.
Canada

[Guido]

I had a NOS 2R truck steering wheel at York that I was asking $200 for. A young fellow came by several times and looked at it but thought the price was too much. When he found out that Shrock wanted $400 to redo his he decided mine was the better route.


Guido Salvage - "Where rust is beautiful"

Studebaker horse drawn buggy; 1946 M-16 fire truck; 1948 M-16 grain truck; 1949 2R16A grain truck; 1949 2R17A fire truck; 1950 2R5 pickup; 1952 2R17A grain truck; 1952 Packard 200 4 door; 1955 E-38 grain truck; 1957 3E-40 flatbed; 1961 6E-28 grain truck; 1962 7E-13D 4x4 rack truck; 1962 7E-7 Champ pickup; 1962 GT Hawk 4 speed; 1963 8E-28 flatbed; 1964 Avanti R2 4 speed; 1964 Cruiser and various other "treasures".

Hiding and preserving Studebakers in Richmond, Goochland & Louisa, Va.

[52 Ragtop]

Go Bowling! Get a bowling ball repair kit and do it yourself. Then prep it paint it and clear coat it.

I have also used "flexible" seam sealer where the wheel has cracked and seperated, but it's not cheap either, about $40 for a two part tube. Go to any good collision center, bribe one of the guys with a lunch and have him "squeeze" some seam sealer in it.

Jim

[wagone]

My Avanti steering wheel BROKE--not just cracked. Not that it would be easy, but cracks in the rim would be comparatively less difficult to fix compared to the dilemma I am facing. I would love to find someone to repair my Avanti wheel. The Stude wheels appear to consist of a "wire" bent in a circle to make the rim and then this is welded to the spokes and then the whole deal covered in plastic and painted. However, my car is not power steering and the continual strain of turning broke one of the welds at the spoke location. I'm afraid that the heat necessary to reweld it would be a little hard on the plastic, thus necessitating a fairly major plastic repair. If I can find a welder willing to tackle the job I may attempt a repair myself, but the end result would never be perfect as this wheel is an early "wood grain" type and I don't know how I would paint it. Then too, to try and replicate the contours of the grip indentations on the back would be difficult. And I know of no shops that will attempt a "professional" repair on this wheel--then too I wouldn't want to entrust it to just anyone.

wagone and the old R2 Avanti

[studelover]

I have repaired a number of wheels over the years. I can get the contour right, the color right, problem is the feel of the wheel is always wrong. I love driving old cars. You know the feel of the wheel when you make a right turn and you let the wheel go and it spins back to position. The action is very smooth. When you paint a wheel and it's not sanded and wet sanded and then cleared correct, it feels gritty. I have found to just look good is not enough. I had the Shrock brothers do the wheel in my 41 champion some years ago. I had been riding around with a standard wheel that I had "repaired" after getting the original "banjo" back from them it was 100 percent different. The wheel glides in my palms, the feel of the wheel is exstradinary.I Need a steering wheel restorer

Studebakers forever!

[Scott]

I Should have mentioned that Don Eash recasts steering wheels, he does not just fix them up. That's why he's on the expensive side.

[rockne10]

quoteon Eash recasts steering wheels, he does not just fix them up.

That's what Shrocks do but, to make an acceptable first mold, they need an acceptably perfect wheel. They also mold in the original color for those wheels that were not painted.

I picked one up from them at York for my '53 Commander and, while it will take a couple months for my credit card to recover, I'm happy.

Brad Johnson
Pine Grove Mills, Pa.
'33 Rockne 10, '51 Commander Starlight, '53 Commander Starlight

[showbizkid]

I finally got a chance to scan that repair article. For anyone who wants to read it:

http://tinyurl.com/28uw4c

It's about 1.3 Mb. Step-by-step repair, and instructions on repainting simulated woodgrain.


[img=left]http://members.cox.net/clarknovak/lark.gif[/img=left]

Clark in San Diego
'63 F2/Lark Standard
http://studeblogger.blogspot.com

[Swifster]

Another article on steering wheel restoration from Rod & Custom magazine.

http://www.rodandcustommagazine.com/...158/index.html

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Tom - Valrico, FL

1964 Studebaker Daytona