The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk steering wheel swap chevy truck 56 to 59?

Hello everyone! I havent posted in a long while. Projects got put on hold for a while.

I have a question about steering wheel swapping. My wife was looking on the LMC truck website and saw different wheels thinking they are just different styles. She wants a flat wheel instead of the original one that is cracked anyway and has a setback. She is wanting a bit more room between the seat and wheel. We have a 1959 Apache 3100 1/2 ton with an original 3 on the tree column. Are the splines the same? Will the slightly older models fit? The research I did, came up with is they shortened the shaft by about three inches to try and prevent drivers from getting hurt in a collision. So they designed a setback steering wheel to compensate to move the wheel back closer to where it was.

I have the steering wheel off and the top of the column apart to repair the horn button and turn signals back to original. The P.O. replaced the entire truck wiring harness and bypassed the column and installed the aftermarket switch banded to the outside of the column.

I can fill in the cracks of the orig. with epoxy alright and repaint it, but my Queen has requested if its possibe and it is her truck.

Thanks
RK

Yes, almost all wheels for many years have the same splines. The aesthetics is a different story as far as the steering wheel skirt melding with the column diameter or turn signal bell.

i should be able to use the horn button for that wheel tho right? Reason I ask is because the orig wheel hub is a bit deep

Be sure that the shift lever on your 59 will clear the flat wheel. The 57-59 shift lever and turn signal switch levers are angled to correspond with the deep wheel. They are flat on 55-56 trucks. The horn contact plate is the same, the horn button is different.
Fred

What is "that wheel". Spell out 56 or 59 when discussing wheels. I can only answer the spline question. As far has horn button, each wheel has a specific horn button. Good point from Fred.

Horn buttons.

AD

1956

57-59

The flat 55/56 wheel mounted on a 57-59 column will put your knuckles real close to the dash.

The flat wheels also had the horn button sitting a little proud of the wheel and when making turns your forearm would hit the button sounding the horn by accident.

Mike B

Roaskill 53 Change and let her try it...take you 5 minutes,may have to make a puller !!

Hy Roadking53 and guys, maybe my thinking is totally wrong here, but if you put the flat steering wheel that was designed to be mounted on a column that was three inches longer on a column that is three inches shorter, will you actually end up with less room between the seat and the steering wheel?

Yes, your thinking is wrong. Three inches shorter column AND a flat wheel will give more clearance. This is why it was mentioned that you may drag your knuckles.
When they shorted the column, they stretched the wheel so the rim remained in the same position. If they didn't stretch the wheel it would be farther away, as in this proposed case.
These trucks are a perfect application for a tilt column donor.

Hy bartamos and guys, I don't mean to argue, but if you mount the non dished 55/56 wheel on a 57/59 steering column which is three inches shorter than the 55/56 column that steering wheel rim will end up three inches closer to the floor/seat, giving you less room than the stock setup.

I see your point. It depends if you are talking closer to the dash, which it will be....and be a longer reach for arms...... or you are talking clearance for knees and lower torso areas. It would be further away from back of seat, more room for upper torso.... but possibly closer to seat of seat. Due to the angle of column.
Maybe flipping the 59 wheel over and laying it on the column will give a reasonable mock up of what a flat wheel will do.

Actually the 57-59 column is 4" shorter than the 55-56. I used a 57 column on my 56 when I converted to PS. I also used a wheel from another GM vehicle that is smaller and works quite well. Yes the stock 55-56 wheel will be much closer to the dash and may cause some issues. To the best of my knowledge, GM used the same size splined shaft from the 30's through the 90's.
Fred

You can look into a steering wheel from a newer truck maybe a 72 may fit or possibly a car from a year that still has the plastic type wheel.I think the best option would be a 15 inch wheel from a 18 inch wheel that I think is what is on there now .I have put a 80,s chev wheel on a 72 and it fit well.

A 15" wheel would be harder to turn without power steering. A wife may not like that.

I did not notice to much of a difference replacing a wheel from a 72 gmc to a 80,s wheel but I am shure it would be a little harder to turn .Another thing to consider is that a different wheel may get in the way of the line of sight to view the gauges ,it did not get in the way on my 72 .