Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

I'm putting my steering wheel back in my 1953.I see a wide groove in the shaft but not on the wheel it self. All groves look the same to me. I'm lineing up steering wheel and tires the best I can.When I went to tighten nut it seems very hard and the wheel is still far from the cover . Schould it be that hard? Do I need to just muscle it down? Do not want to break anything.
Thank You



Also what are the 2 pegs for on the back of the steering wheel?

The missing spline identifies the "high spot" or straight-ahead position of the steering gear. It should be dead nuts vertical when the wheel is installed in the straight-ahead position. Rock the wheel a tad side to side as you install it on the shaft to insure that the splines start. You should be able to slide it down the shaft by hand pressure to within about 3/8 inch of the mast. The nut will then pull it down to a reasonable gap--but should not take a lot of force. Of course if you are installing a new wheel the gap might not be what it used to be and you might need to slide the mast up or down a bit. I have seen high quality show cars with huge hideous gaps.

The pins serve to cancel the turn signal mechanism.

I did have it on just like you said. I even had the 3/8 gap. I went to tighten it and it was very hard , that is why I was wondering if something was wrong. I put it on again just like you said moving it back and forth it slid on to the 3/8 gap no problem still very hard to tighten.I did run nut down first to make sure that was ok. I might have to use breaker bar or ?