Steering wheel & shaft taper ?

ActionYobbo

ActionYobbo

Senior Member
What’s the taper size or number for the sheering shaft on a 39 truck. I got a banjo steering wheel from a 39 car but it won’t fit the taper is different. I need to buy a tapered reamer and “fit” this steering wheel.
 
From my experience, The model A shaft and taper is bigger, but 32 until they went to splines they are all the same. No idea when that occurred
 
Curious if it's the same 7 degree taper as spindles to keep machining and tooling down or consistent while on the line. Hopefully someone knows for sure.
 
Mart said:
It's a 5 degree taper. Some heavier trucks use a bigger diameter.
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On the steering wheels the small end of the hole is the same size and the big ends of the holes are different sizes. The holes are the same depth so the tapers must be different.
 
It sounds like you have all the information to calculate the taper, you just need someone to do the trigonometry for you.
 
I thought I would ask on here and save some guess work. A reamer that size is a bit spendy so I wanted to be sure before I order one. Looks like I will visit some machine shops with both steering wheels and see if someone has a reamer or a way of cutting the required taper.
 
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Someone with a lathe , an off set tail stock and some cutting , hardening should be able to rig up a home made cutter .
 
I think originally that taper on the shaft was rolled in so the thickness of material does not change. To ream a hole with a keyway in it would be very hard to do and have a nice result. I have made shims to put a bigger wheel on small shaft, A onto a v8 shaft for example, but both were tapered the same. Not sure how to go about your dillema
 
I just had the wild idea that one might be able to use valve lapping compound and lap the wheel to the shaft. Might take forever, tho. Use a nut and a washer to keep the wheel square with the shaft if threads are showing. Could work, but you'd still need to file the keyway to fit a key.

Al Hook
 
Tim Ayers said:
I think the OP wants to re-ream the steering wheel and keep the shaft the same, no?
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Yes modify the steering wheel. It would be a big job to get the shaft out and have it turned. I know by looking at these steering wheels that the taper is not the same. The boss area is the same thickness and the top end of the hole is the same size but the bottom hole on the truck steering wheel is larger.
 
It should fit, or it should be loose and fit with a shim.

If it doesn't someone has changed something or the parts are not what you think they are.

Ford steering wheels had the same tapers from 32 to 48. 47 in trucks.

I'm talking cars and pickups.

Why not post some pics of what you have and what the problem appears to be. Do you have any other steering wheels that could be tried on?

Something is not adding up here.

Mart.
 
you need, big lathe, 4 jaw chuck as the wheel probably won't center on a 3 jaw, small boring bar run off compound at proper degree which is ?, then file the key way to fit when done.
 
Mart said:
It should fit, or it should be loose and fit with a shim.

If it doesn't someone has changed something or the parts are not what you think they are.

Ford steering wheels had the same tapers from 32 to 48. 47 in trucks.

I'm talking cars and pickups.

Why not post some pics of what you have and what the problem appears to be. Do you have any other steering wheels that could be tried on?

Something is not adding up here.

Mart.
Click to expand...

Cars and pickups are the same language I am talking truck.

Both ford factory wheels
Best I can do with pictures. The truck wheel has a socket sitting in it. That socket won’t fit in the car wheel
 

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