Steering wheel repair

Chappers · Post by **Chappers** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 11:29 am

I was thinking about replacing my Steering wheel because it had large cracks in the spindels and the screw threads were gone to hold the horn button in.I thought about what kind of filler to use and decided on a resin based filler as this was as close to materialof the wheel as I could find.I started grinding out the cracks with a small Dremel making the groves wider at the bottem (like a dove tail ) to help hold the resin in.After this I used duct tape to wrap around the cracks leaving a small opening at the top .Masking tape was no good as it was too thin and didn't stick aswell.You must use small strips of Duct tape about 10mm wide as larger strip tend to crease and not lie smooth. I used 6mm nuts and machine screws to set into the place were the horn button threads were missing .Coat the threads of the machine screws with grease but not the Nuts .I then got some black resin ,mixed it with the catalyst and injected it into the holes I had left at the top with a Syringe. I left it over night to cure hard and have just started to rub it down, the results are amazing. Here are a few pictures to show you how we went about it. I'll post some of the next stage as soon as I've completed it.

Chappers · Post by **Chappers** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 1:31 pm

Just started sanding and polishing the results are impressive.

snow man · Post by **snow man** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 12:29 pm

That is a great fix Chappers

i also hate to throw anything away, what type of resin was used ?

Chappers · Post by **Chappers** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 4:30 pm

Here's the latest, just a little more sanding and it'll be finished. I've been told the resin is standard fibre glass resin with a coloured additive to give it the black look obtainable from any fibre glass resin suppliers.When the resin is dry rub down with a coarse abrasive about 120 grit to get the shape then 600 grit wet and dry to finish polish with WD 40 and a soft cloth.

armydriver · Post by **armydriver** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 8:02 am

Beautiful work Chappers. I think I will do the same for my steering wheel. Mine is not quite as bad as yours was, but still in the need of repair. Thanks for this post. This helps a lot.

Thundercat97 · Post by **Thundercat97** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 8:38 am

Jumping on the wagon ......

Great job!! I have one that needs help. I would love to get it restored (if possible). If you are interested in taking on another side job, let me know.

Rob

mud-snow · Post by **mud-snow** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 6:00 am

I have several steering wheels, not for GMC's but for Morris Commercial's that need the same fix. Anyone else tryed this yet? Any more experience?
It looks very nice indeed!

Rolf

Chappers · Post by **Chappers** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 9:32 am

Hi Rolf, The steering wheel has done a few show and driven about 200 miles so far without a problem. I used casting resin and a black pigment which you can buy from any fiberglass suppliers. just mix it up and away you go. Make sure if your installing nuts into a cast part as to create a thread that you grease the thread part and rough the surface of the nut with a dot punch to stop it coming out.

Regards

Steve

P.S
All the pictures are on the projects page of our website www.501para.net

KEVINABR · Post by **KEVINABR** » Sun Feb 18, 2007 4:30 pm

well done there chappers excellent restore job

The GMC CCKW

Steering wheel repair

Steering wheel repair

Steering wheel

Anyone else done it yet?