Bus steering wheels..

frank-id · 12-06-2003, 11:36 PM

I'm not a big fan of large steering wheels. A wheel that is 22- 20 inches in diameter is too large for me. My Crown has an unusual steering shaft size and spline. I'm changing from a factory shaft to a GM shaft size. The modification will not be difficult. I'm using a Chevy pickup wheel that is 16 inches diameter. There are lots of choices of steering wheels from GM. And the prices are very much cheeper.. Later, I may change to a tilt column.

Frank in Idaho

John Chance · 12-27-2003, 09:31 AM

Frank, my 86 GMC has a large wheel that is broken at the hub, and I want to replace it, too, with a smaller wheel. Will any GM steering wheel fit on that shaft?

Thanks for any information you can share.

Steve · 12-27-2003, 03:01 PM

Is your new steering wheel large enough that you could still drive (or at least keep control of) the bus without power steering should anything ever happen?

frank-id · 12-28-2003, 11:38 PM

Many folks have mentioned that control of a big vehicle is tough with a small wheel. That is true, but how often has this happened? The most usual action if a vehicle engine suddenly stops, is to apply the brakes. Now ya cannot got racing but the wheel can be turned to move off roadway. A smaller wheel makes driving fun. A GM trucks over 1.5 ton use the same size steering shaft. The spline is 13/16 and has 36 splines. A heavy duty wheel puller is required. Frank

frank-id · 01-30-2004, 12:33 AM

All GM steering wheels are the same steering shaft size. It is 3/4 in OD, I forgot the spline count, and not important. GM vehicles use many size wheels, but are easily interchanged to satisfy, egos, power,looks,or task..

Using a steering wheel puller required to guarantee not to damage any parts. Many folks remove the steering lock of RVs for lots of reasons. New steering wheels are very spendy but salvage yards have lots of cheap good wheels.

All the GM wheels will interchange up to about 1990, as air bags came into use...... Yep, the spline is still the same. Frank

fightingsiouxbus · 07-27-2007, 04:36 PM

Definitely use a Heavy Duty steering wheel puller. We had 3 days of downtime because my buddy thought he could get it off using the old hammer in the middle trick, except that he used a claw hammer instead of a rubber mallet and mushroomed the steering column shaft. I ended up buying a steering wheel puller to get it off but the only one's napa had were light duty (meant for cars and light trucks) Bent the hell out of that one but got it off. We looked all over town and couldn't find a 3/4" die to re-cut the shaft so ended up having to grind off the top of the shaft from where the snap ring goes on upwards.

delbertinie · 08-06-2007, 10:27 PM

I was always told that the size of the steering wheel corresponds to the diameter of your wheels.
If you decrease the size of the steering wheel you decrease the amount of turns it takes to go from lock to lock
when turning all the way left and then right.
I can't see it being a problem as long as the driver is aware that he is turning the wheels faster than he is the steering wheel.
(change lanes quicker ect.)

eggman · 08-07-2007, 03:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by delbertinie

I was always told that the size of the steering wheel corresponds to the diameter of your wheels.
If you decrease the size of the steering wheel you decrease the amount of turns it takes to go from lock to lock
when turning all the way left and then right.
I can't see it being a problem as long as the driver is aware that he is turning the wheels faster than he is the steering wheel.
(change lanes quicker ect.)

Do what?

I dont think that is correct. The number of turns required to go from lock to lock is independent of the size of the steering wheel. You can even remove the steering wheel all together and the number of turns lock to lock is still the same. The only thing that is decreased is the distance the hand has to go when turning the wheel. Which is the difference of the circumference of the steering wheels.

phillbus914 · 08-07-2007, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Do what?

I dont think that is correct. The number of turns required to go from lock to lock is independent of the size of the steering wheel. You can even remove the steering wheel all together and the number of turns lock to lock is still the same. The only thing that is decreased is the distance the hand has to go when turning the wheel. Which is the difference of the circumference of the steering wheels.

I agree, I was going to say the same thing, but I'm too lazy to type all that. ha ha ha

delbertinie · 08-08-2007, 10:12 PM

well when I was kid and we used to weld together links of chain to make steering wheel and had them chromed. We made them much smaller
than the original so that the steering would be quicker( thats the best way I could describe it). It wouldn't take much of anything to be in the next lane before you knew it.

I may not have explained it right, but in know in mo I got a tickect for changing the diametor of the steering wheel.

In the early 70's we jacked the rear ends up, big meats in the back little skinnies in the front and little steering wheels.
It may have cool then but with a big block it sure made a scary ride.
At times going around a curve( or just trying to turn a corner) we overcompensated on the steering and slid the car into the curb or another car.
it was good case of push steer. ya overturned the skinny wheels in front and big rears pushed you straight into whatever was in front of you.

That what I was trying to explain without going around the bush 5 times to get there
hopefully this helps my statement before make some sense

dale

delbertinie · 08-08-2007, 10:15 PM

by the way didn't claim it was the gospel truth either.
It's just what the old timers told me when we started modifying our cars

phillbus914 · 08-09-2007, 09:08 AM

It would turn quicker because with a smaller steering wheel, less movement is needed to turn the steering shaft the same amount. Same thing as smaller tires have to turn faster to cover the same distance as larger ones. That's why when you change tire size your speedometer will be off and your gear ratio will change. Since the steering shaft is not altered (nor the steering gear) the number of turns lock to lock would be the same. The wheel would just turn much "quicker" to make one revolution.

Anyway no one was putting you down for saying that... That's not how we are on this board. We're all here to learn, and we all know that. Eggman was just trying to explain it to ya, I wanted to but I suck at explaining stuff sometimes (which is why I put "ha ha" in my last post... not to make fun of you)

delbertinie · 08-09-2007, 08:39 PM

well I suck at explainations too and I didn't take it as a put down
Dale

TomCat · 08-17-2007, 03:26 PM

A large steering wheel is so you'll have enough leverage to retain control over your bus in the event of a blowout. I feel you may be asking for trouble if you try to go too small.

You may also like: