Steering Wheel Adapter

Hey folks!

I am wanting to put something like a Grant steering wheel on my 47 Plymouth Special Deluxe. I believe it is the original column, as the giant 18 inch Plymouth steering wheel is still on there. I have power steering and the big wheel has become kind of obnoxious (though it still looks cool).

Do any of you know and could point me in the direction of where to look for a hub adapter kit so I can do this? I have searched a bunch of places and not come up with anything solid.

Thank you for your time in advance!

Any hub kit that was ever made is now obsolete and rare. I try to find a junk steering wheel and use the hub from it as the basis for an adapter...lots of fabrication involved.

Here's an adapter I made for my '57 New Yorker.

Thanks for the idea John! I will see if I can come up with anything like that!

I assume you looked at a Grant installation kit? They didn't have anything that would work for you? The tuff wheel adapters are now reproduced. I have no idea if something like that could work on something that old.

A 47 Plymouth (and nearly any Mopar before about 61 or so) has a very large diameter hollow splined shaft. None of the "newer" adapters are even close, they all have the steering shaft hole too small to fit the original shaft. I've made a few, they are a pain in the butt to make, and you pretty much have to hack up an original steering wheel to get a hub the fits to start with, then you modify that so the "modern" 3 bolt wheels can be attached to the old hub. Getting a horn to work is a project by itself. Gene

i made the removable wheel adapter for the tilt/tele column in my humpback based on the hub core of a junk wheel. it is set up for a three bolt "grant" style wheel. as poorboy said, the horn contactor was a job in itself to enable the horn to work with the button, and still have the wheel be removable.

So, without he removable part you could have just used the Grant adapter designed to work with the obviously not original donor column?

My advice tot eh OP would be to consider swapping in a newer column to get things like integrated turn signals that self return. tilt/tele and the ability to use later steering wheels.

i believe that would be correct. the column uses just the tilt/tele knuckle, with the rest being fabbed up by me. as you may know, the locking mechanism for the telescopic part is routed through the original wheel, so in order to make the wheel removable, i had to re-locate the locking mechanism to the adapter. that took a little thinking, as i wanted to keep things as small and as simple as possible, but retain the strength of the factory design plus look reasonably nice when the wheel is removed. the horn connection is just a simple ground, but due to the size of the removable coupling [just a common dirt burner item], several items needed to be made to isolate the ground and yet make sure the contact points would work time after time, using the basic grant horn kit. you bring up a good point about the OP choosing a modern column for just the reasons you stated.

Hmm, now I wonder if Grant even makes a tilt/tele adapter?

Well, they make some for tilt columns, no mention of tele one way or the other.

1982-89 Tilt col. All Models 4324
1978-81 Tilt col. All Models 3196

Grant's website really sux for details.

the tilt, and tilt/tele columns are made by saginaw, so the spline count and size should be the same. but with the tele lock mechanism in the wheel [74 -78 anyway] grant may not make a kit for that. i have a junk imperial column i used for parts that has the lock mechanism just below the wheel, but i don't know what year it is. [70-73 perhaps ?] the turn signal switch, the column cover [where the tele lock is located], and several other small parts are different, but the spline count on the shaft end is the same as the column i used for my setup. the earlier versions had the lock mechanism as a turnable "hub" in the middle of the wheel, with the horn buttons on the wheel spokes. [66-69 ?]

I guess the question is, could you get a tilt only column during the years Grant covers them? Or were they all tilt/tele?

I never owned anything other than a standard column back then so I dunno.

from my junkyard days, i remember tilt only columns in some ramchargers, pickups, and cordobas, plus we had a diplomat cop car with one. i can't remember the exact year these were, but my one buddy is doing a father/son project on a 78 ramcharger, and it has a tilt only column. the truck columns are not very common, but the cordoba ones seemed [at the time] to be more available. i would "think" grant had the adapter listed for these, but i never researched anything. as i have a bunch of grant kits and parts stashed in a box fitting different makes and models [new and used, but nothing in a grant box] i just select parts from my stash. i also keep my eye open at the swaps for various three bolt kits and parts there of that are priced cheap, because now, the kits are expensive [i remember when the kits came with the wheel you purchased, then i griped when the horn button kit went to $4.99 and was an extra cost item for your wheel !] and the adapter hub is separate from the horn button kit, plus [i think] you must choose between chrome and flat black for the horn button and the column cover.

Thank you guys for all of the input! I was hoping that someone might have an "easy" fix, but in my gut I knew it wouldn't be easy lol! I am gunna investigate the new column, and see what I can come up with!

I have also made contact with Grant and have to send them some pix,measurements, and spline count and they said that they would investigate to see if they could come up with anything.

Cheers!

capnbabs, it sure would be nice if Grant came out with an adapter for mounting a modern steering wheel on the pre60s Mopars, sure would make a lot of people happy. Gene

out of curiosity, do any of you guys happen to know when mopar went to a splined column shaft ? reason i ask is because my 38 plymouth had a tapered shaft with a key, and my 47 plymouth had a splined shaft. I JUST REMEMBERED !!!! hey OP. i had the ORIGINAL wheel from my 64 barracuda on my 47 ! i just remembered that ! the car was a 3spd [on the tree, which the linkage was removed because i had a 4spd in the car] with manual steering [original box and suspension]. the horn was hooked to a push button, but the wheel bolted up. that would mean [to me] any 69 down 3 bolt grant wheel hub kit should work ! those columns did not have the key in them, and were smaller in diameter. i can't remember if the wheel base fit the column diameter even close, but i was surprised it even fit ! this was before i became proficient in fabrication and machining, so i'm positive there was no adapter involved fitting the barracuda wheel. this would be around the 1972 time frame, before my machinist trade began. check this info out and report back. i hope my mind is still remembering correctly ! that wheel was installed when my new upholstery was done. i'll have to see if i have any old [real] pics of that.