Up or down?

Herb · April 07, 2009, 02:04:37 AM

Should be down to read the dash.? But it is what ever your used to, or works best for you, it really is not engraved in granite.

If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.

33plycoupe · March 26, 2009, 08:23:09 PM

The center spoke on my 33 Plymouth PD coupe is straight down when driving straight forward. The other two thus would be at 10 and 2. I don't know if the steering wheel was ever off the car, but I doubt it. Interesting discussion. Would have never occurred to me to question the position of the steering wheel spokes.

TodFitch · March 22, 2009, 03:29:58 PM

Quote from: brucepine on March 22, 2009, 02:04:50 PM
Steering wheel centering can be adjusted by equal turns of the tie rod ends. This would require checking the tow in/out carefully also.

That would work on a later vehicle but not mine: There is a single tie rod and adjusting its length only adjusts the toe in/out. And the drag link is non-adjustable too. So on a 1933, barring frame/spring damage, about the only thing that affects steering wheel centering is the location of the steering arm on the shaft coming out of the steering gear box.

But you are correct about equal and opposite adjustments of the tie rods on later cars. I recall doing that on the VW Bug I had back in the 1970s.

brucepine · March 22, 2009, 02:04:50 PM

Steering wheel centering can be adjusted by equal turns of the tie rod ends. This would require checking the tow in/out carefully also.

Lew · March 21, 2009, 09:47:39 PM

Great discussion. We all seem to have this issue with the steering wheel. One additional step I found, after all steps mentioned was to check the drag link adjustment with the road wheels straight ahead and the steering gear centered also as mentioned. Adjusting the spring compression at the sector shaft per the service manual and slightly adjusting the drag link at the end near the spindle arm made my steering wheel centered.
LR

TodFitch · March 21, 2009, 08:30:49 PM

Quote from: Ed_Ungerman on March 21, 2009, 12:06:08 PM
My worry now is, that the center of the wheel where it fits to the column, is messed up and won't fit right when I put it on the correct way. And I don't know if i can fix the threads on the shaft. Wheel is on tight. I do have the correct, old-style wheel puller that I borrowed from Paul Curtice. Also worried that the wheel will break up in the process of getting it off.

Not sure what help I could offer here. My 1933 uses a key to locate the steering wheel to the shaft so there is only one way for it to to on. Looking at the service manual and the parts book it seems your 1937 uses a splined shaft so the wheel could be installed at the wrong angle.

The only way I made progress on figuring out where the wheel should be was to raise the front wheels and then move the wheel from lock to lock counting the rotations. Then I backed off 1/2 the rotations to put the steering at its center. If you do that (forgetting where the wheels are actually pointing) how is the steering wheel? If it is centered as you wish then I would think the adjustment would be at the other end where the "steering arm" attaches to the shaft coming out of the gear box.

TodFitch · March 21, 2009, 08:15:00 PM

Quote from: Plymouths on March 21, 2009, 09:09:19 AM
Normally one spoke is down in the middle and the other 2 are at 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock. I assume so you have slightly better forward vision. Possibly also so you can hold on to the wheel and the 2 spokes at the the 10 and 2 position because you're taught to hold the wheel like that if you took professional driving lessons. ?

It sounds like I finally have it lined up correctly after all these years. Some how I had it firmly fixed in my mind that one spoke should be up and I could never get it setup that way. Like the man said: "... it's what you know that's not so". Thanks for the information.

Ed_Ungerman · March 21, 2009, 12:06:08 PM

My worry now is, that the center of the wheel where it fits to the column, is messed up and won't fit right when I put it on the correct way. And I don't know if i can fix the threads on the shaft. Wheel is on tight. I do have the correct, old-style wheel puller that I borrowed from Paul Curtice. Also worried that the wheel will break up in the process of getting it off.

Ed_Ungerman · March 19, 2009, 10:44:27 PM

Tod, on my '37 the spoke is up, but I would think it should be down. Mine blocks my view of the speedometer. I think mine has been off before, because someone put a course thread nut on the fine thread shaft. When it gets a little warmer, I'm going to try and pull it off and turn it around. Need to fix a few cracks on wheel anyways.

TodFitch · March 19, 2009, 09:51:28 PM

I have portrayed myself as pretty knowledgeable about 1933 Plymouths but today proves that I know nothing...

The steering wheel of my 1933 PD has three spokes and there is a key that assures that it can only go on the shaft one way. However at the other end the "Steering gear worm wheel and shaft (integral)" and the "Steering gear arm" (terms from the instruction manual) are splined and can fit together at various angles.

I had always thought that if everything was assembled properly that one spoke on the steering wheel would be straight up when traveling in a straight line. But today when putting things back together it appears that if you center the wheel between the ends of its travel you end up with an arm pointing straight down.

The owners/instruction manual has a photo of the interior showing an arm straight up. But various other factory photos show the wheel in other positions including straight up, straight down and other angles slightly off from those. Most telling is a photo from one piece of sale literature with a fellow getting in the car wearing plus fours. The wheels are straight ahead and there is no spoke visible on the steering wheel (ergo spoke not straight up).

So, for those of you with 1933 experience, what way are/were the spokes on your steering wheel when you are/were traveling in a straight line? Up, down or somewhere else?