Adjustable steering and Moto-Lita steering wheel question

[cleandan]

I have installed a Moto-Lita steering wheel in my Tiger and now a question arises. What can be done/should be done with the adjustable stud in the factory steering column. There is no provision for the adjustable wheel on the Moto-Lita wheel and the horn portion is so close that is will interfere electrically with the stud if the stud moves. I looked at simply tightening the stud but the stud will stick out way too far for proper wheel instalation, and I don’t like the idea of cutting the stud either. So how can I secure the steering wheel on the adjustable column and still keep my great looking Moto-Lita steering wheel. By the way, the Moto-Lita wheel was chosen because the factory wheel was long gone when I purchased the car. The wheel the previous owner had on there was so far out of place that I will have to try hard to forget it. Thanks for the help.

[Eric and Bonnie and Bonnie Gibeaut]

That is a tough one to answer! I had an Alpine with an aftermarket wheel on it and the previous owner cut that adjustable stud off just enough so he could install the wheel. When I got the car, I put a stock wheel back on and only had about 2 or 3 threads left to install the stock parts back in place. Can you measure how many threads you need to keep the stock stuff in place and then cut that much off? Or I think you can tap on the end of that adjustable stud and it will fall back into the steering column shaft. Getting it back out in the future will take a magnetic probe though. Anyone else have ideas?
Eric

[Tom and Joanne Ehrhart]

I am not sure about MotoLita wheels but my Lecarra has a horn button. It too would not work with the stock adjustment rod because of the rods length. Also, it is imperative that the rod be kept in a tension state so the internal clamp can keep the steering wheel shafts tight. If not, the steering wheel will eventually, if not immediately, become loose. I wanted to retain the telescopic adjustability of the steering wheel without compromising the steering wheel and horn button integrity. So I took this approach.

First I got the adjustment mechanism to work correctly. Then I discarded the original adjustment nut (OK, I saved it in my Rootes junk box). I slid a 5/16 flat washer on the threaded rod then screwed on a 5/16-24 nut. I tightened the nut just enough to lock the steering wheel. Once I found the minimum nut tightness required to “lock” the steering wheel in position, I cut off the remaining stud. I then removed the nut and welded on two little metal ears about 1 1/2 inches long. This now allows me to adjust the steering wheel when I want. All I have to do is pop out the horn ring and twist the wing nut about one turn. Keep in mind that a properly functioning telescoping wheel adjustment should require only about one turn to loosen the internal clamp. It may be necessary to sharply tap the stud after turning the nut one turn.

[cleandan]

65sunbeam, I do not wish to cut the shaft if I do not NEED to, but it is looking more like I will have to cut it. As it stands, the steering wheel is tightly fastened to the shaft with the outer retaining nut but the adjustable shaft is just sitting in the hole. I have no issues of loose steering wheels like Tom mentioned, but the adjustable part is constantly loose so I can move the wheel in and out at any time. This is not impossible to deal with, but I kinda like my steering wheel in one place while driving.
TigerToms, I like your idea of making a wing nut to take the place of the factory horn/nut section. My Moto-Lita, however does not have much room behind the horn section, which is probably very similar to the LeCarra. The Wheel attaches to an adaptor and the horn section is held in place via an O-ring fit with the horn button in the center section. The biggest problem is the horn elec connection is directly out the back of the horn section, which limits the space between the stud and horn section to basically nothing. I was thinking of getting rid of the horns anyway, so that portion is not REAL important to me, but it wold be nice to have them. I would then machine a new horn button section with the proper threads to accommodate the adjusting stud. Then I simply turn the schmancy horn ring like I would the stock ring to tighten/loosen the adjuster. This is a LOT of work and would probaly cost a few nickles too, but it would make for a good fix that should last a very long time. I was honestly hoping for something easier though.

[Gilles Blais]

I had the same problem with my Alpine. My replacement vintage wheel had enough dish that I could use a “Filler/Spacer” black pipe section and keep the original setup. My horn is a micro switch sitting at 2 o’clock atop the black spacer. It would look silly for a flat profile wheel. With the dish, it looks alright.

I would not drive without a horn. That is the only thing I ever failed when a cop gave the Alpine a roadside inspection, and it took him a long time to think about it.

Cheers, Gilles

[cleandan]

quote GillesB:

I had the same problem with my Alpine. My replacement vintage wheel had enough dish that I could use a “Filler/Spacer” black pipe section and keep the original setup. My horn is a micro switch sitting at 2 o’clock atop the black spacer. It would look silly for a flat profile wheel. With the dish, it looks alright.

I would not drive without a horn. That is the only thing I ever failed when a cop gave the Alpine a roadside inspection, and it took him a long time to think about it.

Cheers, Gilles

Thanks for the reply Gilles. Your cop story raises a question though.
What did you do to garner such a complete roadside inspection from an officer?

[Gilles Blais]

I was driving with the hardtop on but without any glass in it. He also saw an old piece of coat hanger he thought was holding the tailpipe.

Cheers, Gilles

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