Reproduction steering wheel question

[CG]

So pretty much everything I have read about repro steering wheels is that they are flimsy and junky.

Does anyone know why? Is the metal ring of the wheel made out of crappy steel? Is the plastic they use flimsy? What is it exactly that makes repro wheel not worth the money?

I have a bunch of cracked steering wheels and it looks like it takes a ton of work to repair them correctly. And then it seems like most of them just end up cracked again.

A NOS wheel of any type is unobtanium, even a super nice used wheel is crazy priced now. How bad can a repro wheel be considering the other options available?

[davischevy]

I have some of both.

The repro wheels look nice and believe it or not you get used to the feel after a while.

My son in law has repro's on both his trucks and he doesn't think anything about it, because he has never had an original.

I snagged a nicely grained wheel a while back with a few nicks in the lower rim. I took black lacquer and kept building up the nicks, and it came out nice.

[special-K]

I bought a repro wheel in '01 and after a few years it cracked and separated at TDC. I could see the rod stock used in the rim was half the size of OEM. It would flex way more than the OEM. At some point a new batch got made and those were said to be more firm but I haven't heard anything beyond that. I'm sure someone here has or has had one to tell how well they hold up. They've been out a good while now.

EDIT: Other Larry might have other wheel on other truck

[davischevy]

Probably.

[Canuckvetter]

My friend bought a repop 67-8 wheel. One winter in the great white north and it cracked all to $h*t.

[Curtb1971]

Originally Posted by special-K

EDIT: Other Larry might have other wheel on other truck

Here is my aftermarket experience. I seen a sweet looking wheel in a wrecked truck in the junkyard and hopped in all excited that I found a unicorn... I put my hands on the wheel and all those dreams and hopes were shattered. It was like jello compared to an oem one and just didn't feel right to me but as davischevy said you probably would get used to it. I think they have a very small metal ring and not a lot of reinforcement in the center cross section. That said its still rests in the truck graveyard.
My experience on fixing oem wheels has been a learning one to say the least. I've restored one that was cracked pretty bad and it took 2 days to prep for paint. It cracked again but not bad after the repair. I learned from my mistakes on the first one and I'm in the process of another (hourglassed the cracks instead of just V'ing them out). It had less cracks then the first and took 1 day to prep. Hopefully it will hold up better because it wasn't bad to begin with and I'm experimenting with a different process. They just take a lot of time and patience to repair. I fully understand why an uncracked oem one is priced the way they are now.

My attempt to match the grain with a dremel, also very useful tool in reaming out the cracks if you go that route.