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As so many of you all have helped me along the way, here is my attempt to give back and help other Packard guyz that are contemplating similar repair or restoration to a 55-56 senior steering wheel.

These first three pictures show the steering wheel that is currently on my 1955 400. Back several years ago, as I was restoring the car, this wheel was acquired in very nice condition from one of my favorite Packard vendors. All I had to do was paint it and mount it at the appropriate time. But during the painting process, the wheel (suspended in the air perpendicular to the ground) came loose from its suspension and fell. I still see it clearly in my mind's eye (Packard PTSD) falling in slow motion until it hit the garage floor. After the shock wore off, we examined the wheel and it looked okay. So the painting process was completed and the wheel was later mounted. I can't tell you exactly when it happened after that, but the wheel developed these large cracks where they previously never were. All I can ponder is that due to the fall the wheel probably "flexed" as the wheel bounced on the cement garage floor. Since then, the cracks have bothered me each time I've driven the car. Thus, this repair blog. Please note that the subsequent pictures will represent the replacement wheel's restoration process.

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Here is the replacement wheel. Purchased from ebay, it had the usual cracks in the usual places. PB blaster was used because the underside metal pieces were rusty. Despite the cracks the metal rings that separate the colored portions of the wheel were in place and tight.

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Here are some of the necessary items I needed to get things rolling in the right direction. I used PC 7 as the filling agent for the wheel itself. PC 7 is easy to apply and easy to sand once dry.

I found it a major PITA to work on the wheel initially because of its shape. To hold it still in a vise without damaging it (or dropping it), I came up with the idea as seen. A 'clam-shell' of sorts I suppose. I selected a cedar (soft wood) and drew the outside of the wheel radius. With a router, the wood was channeled so that wheel could be held securely at my workbench in a vise.

Given the size of the cracks it never required using more that a small amount of each for each application.

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These are pictures of the filling process. What is unseen is that I used a dremel to clean-out or channel through areas to ensure that the epoxy went into the holes easily. I then used a fine sand paper each time to smooth and then add more epoxy as necessary. The sanding and application of the epoxy tended to be a 'dirty' job.

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With all the epoxy added and sanding completed it was time to prepare the replacement wheel for painting. After thoroughly cleaning the wheel many times, I purchased fine line tape and as best I could covered the white portions of the wheel.

As seen, a threaded rod device was assembled after walking through ACE Hardware for 15 minutes. I didn't under any circumstances want to drop the wheel again! The chains obviously were 'over-kill' but very convenient.

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Hey Kevin -

That vice clamp for the steering wheel is nothing short of brilliant! And the rest is great information. I (currently) don't have any steering wheel issues but I've wondered from time to time just how to go about it should some develop. I'll definitely keep this bit filed away for the future.

Thanks for posting the process and progress.

The painting begins at Bill's house. He loves to do this kind of stuff to relax, and for the price of a good lunch, good conversation paint, etc., the Packard ends up benefiting. (Bill is toying with a Mustang restoration - he recently picked up a '67 Fastback)

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Time to strip and re-tape so the white color can be applied.

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Once the white was applied........it was time to strip the paper from the wheel and get ready to spray clear onto the wheel.

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Here are pictures of the wheel with the clear applied. As seen I have some 'patina' already built into my wheel. Perfection is to be pursued but I'm very happy with the result. Now let it fully dry for 24 hours untouched.

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