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e015475 · 11-27-2018, 07:04 PM

Been slacking off and took a week off and took the family to Flagstaff for Thanksgiving, But here's a little progress on the truck-

If you've ever thought about adapting a non-truck steering wheel instead of one of those fancy Ididit or Flaming River columns, here's what I did-

I started with a 57-58 Cadillac column from CL and cut the end of the tube off, extracted the tube that went down to the automatic transmission and discarded it.

I took the shaft down to a machinist and had the diameter turned to .75" and had him mill two flats in it to accept a double-D u-joint.

I bought a "column saver" which has a bronze bushing and thrust bearings to replace the bearing I cut off the Cadillac column-

Here's the column saver mounted onto the Cadillac steering shaft.

Here's the column saver installed in the bottom of the Cadillac column. I searched high and low for the brush that is used for the horn and finally gave up and made one of my own out of a piece of brass

I shaved the steering column collar where the gear shift lever went through the pot metal. I rebuilt the turn signal mechanism and contacts by just cleaning and lubing them up. Replaced all the wires leading to the turn signal contacts. The pot metal collar that held the gear shift lever was no longer supported by the tube within the column that went down to actuate the transmission gear shift, so I JB welded the shift collar to the turn signal collar. It probably looked ok on the Cadillac when the collars were separate, but now that they're together I'll need to skim with a little bondo, and Featherfill before I paint it.

In the Cadillac, the column sits in a recess in the dash, but for the truck I needed some sort of transition so it didn't end abruptly and looked finished. I found a stainless measuring cup in the kitchen, and cut the bottom out of it so it would slip over the column and be a little more aesthetically pleasing.

Here's the JB welded collars and the measuring cup transition on the column

Here's the completed column almost ready for paint. When I got the column and wheel, the wheel had about a hundred cracks around the rim. I used a hack saw blade and opened the cracks and filled them with epoxy. That was 18 months ago, and a couple of cracks have reappeared on the rim. I'm not going to fuss with them anymore and will wrap the steering wheel in leather to cover them (Horn ring isn't fastened on in this pic)

The 57-58 Cadillac horn ring has the Cadillac swan emblem in the middle. There's one on ebay for $100 but I can't bring myself to pay that much for a little piece of plastic, Looking for any ideas on what to put in the hole to finish the wheel.

All in, I have about $300 in the column but a lot of labor. If I paid myself $10 and hour, I could have had an Ididit or FR column.

11-27-2018, 07:04 PM	#89
e015475 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: Show Low, Arizona Posts: 764	Re: 49 GMC Five Window Been slacking off and took a week off and took the family to Flagstaff for Thanksgiving, But here's a little progress on the truck- If you've ever thought about adapting a non-truck steering wheel instead of one of those fancy Ididit or Flaming River columns, here's what I did- I started with a 57-58 Cadillac column from CL and cut the end of the tube off, extracted the tube that went down to the automatic transmission and discarded it. I took the shaft down to a machinist and had the diameter turned to .75" and had him mill two flats in it to accept a double-D u-joint. I bought a "column saver" which has a bronze bushing and thrust bearings to replace the bearing I cut off the Cadillac column- Here's the column saver mounted onto the Cadillac steering shaft. Here's the column saver installed in the bottom of the Cadillac column. I searched high and low for the brush that is used for the horn and finally gave up and made one of my own out of a piece of brass I shaved the steering column collar where the gear shift lever went through the pot metal. I rebuilt the turn signal mechanism and contacts by just cleaning and lubing them up. Replaced all the wires leading to the turn signal contacts. The pot metal collar that held the gear shift lever was no longer supported by the tube within the column that went down to actuate the transmission gear shift, so I JB welded the shift collar to the turn signal collar. It probably looked ok on the Cadillac when the collars were separate, but now that they're together I'll need to skim with a little bondo, and Featherfill before I paint it. In the Cadillac, the column sits in a recess in the dash, but for the truck I needed some sort of transition so it didn't end abruptly and looked finished. I found a stainless measuring cup in the kitchen, and cut the bottom out of it so it would slip over the column and be a little more aesthetically pleasing. Here's the JB welded collars and the measuring cup transition on the column Here's the completed column almost ready for paint. When I got the column and wheel, the wheel had about a hundred cracks around the rim. I used a hack saw blade and opened the cracks and filled them with epoxy. That was 18 months ago, and a couple of cracks have reappeared on the rim. I'm not going to fuss with them anymore and will wrap the steering wheel in leather to cover them (Horn ring isn't fastened on in this pic) The 57-58 Cadillac horn ring has the Cadillac swan emblem in the middle. There's one on ebay for $100 but I can't bring myself to pay that much for a little piece of plastic, Looking for any ideas on what to put in the hole to finish the wheel. All in, I have about $300 in the column but a lot of labor. If I paid myself $10 and hour, I could have had an Ididit or FR column.