Steering wheel spokes not centered

During restoration I had a Moto-Lita steering wheel installed with the new hub. I kept the AH horn button. It looks great but after installing it, it is about 10 to 15 degrees off when the tires are straight. What do I need to do to get it into the correct orientation? 1) Pull the steering shaft out and rotate it slightly to get the steering wheel aligned? or 2) Adjust the front end alignment with the steering wheel in the correct position? I have been living with this for several years now but I really want to get it into alignment.

If your front wheels are in alignment, you'll need to remove the wheel and replace it on the splines in the proper position. You're going to need to loosen the trafficator and slide it up some to get the wheel off. Before buttoning it up, run the car slowly up and down the driveway to make sure you've got it in the right position.

Goldie said:

During restoration I had a Moto-Lita steering wheel installed with the new hub. I kept the AH horn button. It looks great but after installing it, it is about 10 to 15 degrees off when the tires are straight. What do I need to do to get it into the correct orientation? 1) Pull the steering shaft out and rotate it slightly to get the steering wheel aligned? or 2) Adjust the front end alignment with the steering wheel in the correct position? I have been living with this for several years now but I really want to get it into alignment.

Click to expand...

You can rectify the misalignment by centering the steering wheel and aligning the front wheels by appropriately adjusting the tie rod ends. This will result in a bit more steering wheel travel in one direction than the other but unless your steering is out more than 1/4 turn it really should not matter.

I've got to agree with Rick on this one. The problem is simply down to the steering wheel not being correctly centred on the splines. Keep the wheels straight, remove the hub and re-position the wheel correctly on the splines.

While you are at it I would remove the trafficator altogether as it is an annoying piece of kit that requires unnatural arm actions to operate the indicators. Fit a horn push and indicator switch to the dashboard. This also gets rid of the problem of the wires running up the steering column.

Ya know I have forgotten how I did mine. And I have been planning to turn my steering wheel 180 degrees to get the center spoke into the straight up ( 12 o'clock) position because with it the way it is I can't see the gauges that well. So can't we just unscrew the perimeter screws that fasten the Moto-Lita wheel to the hub and then position the steering wheel where we want and reinstall the screws?

Dave,

I suppose undoing the perimeter screws and moving the wheel would work if you got lucky, but my guess the wheel will never line up when you move it around the hub. The Moto-lita wheel is beautiful, but it's a "T" shape rather than the "Y" shape of the original wheel. No matter how you flip the Moto-lita it's going to block the gauges. That's the beauty of Mike Lempert's wheels. They're works of arts that let you see the gauges.

Thanks for the info. I figured that moving the trafficator shaft and moving to the correct spline location might be the solution. Seems I have read that there is an olive on the end of the shaft that must be removed and replaced to keep it from leaking. I have never gotten into that part of the car before so it will be new territory for me. Are there any instructions on the procedure posted anywhere on the internet.

If you have an adjustable wheel there is no need to undo the olive at the gearbox. Now if you have a leak there already then go ahead.

The photo above shows the trafficator to be in the correct position - therefore the olive is OK. If yours is like this, you should be able to pull out the trafficator far enough to remove the circlip holding the hub on and rotate the hub a spline or two and get it to line up.
This article by Lin Rose (on this forum) is comprehensive:
https://www.acmefluid.com.au/larry/trafficator.html

I'd suggest the following before you start......Rotate the steering wheel full one way then count the number of turns to go to full lock the other way. Now rotate the steering wheel 1/2 the number of turns back and see where your wheels are pointing. If they are straight ahead and your steering wheel upper spoke is not vertical then the steering wheel will need removing and refitting in the correct position. Hope this helps.

Goldie said:

During restoration I had a Moto-Lita steering wheel installed with the new hub. I kept the AH horn button. It looks great but after installing it, it is about 10 to 15 degrees off when the tires are straight. What do I need to do to get it into the correct orientation? 1) Pull the steering shaft out and rotate it slightly to get the steering wheel aligned? or 2) Adjust the front end alignment with the steering wheel in the correct position? I have been living with this for several years now but I really want to get it into alignment.

Click to expand...

Goldie,
If you have a Moto-Lita you could try unscrewing all the little screws holding the wheel onto the hub before you take
EVERYTHING else apart. It worked for me. Becareful you don't scratch anything.

Have the same problem on my BN1...I have a Mike Lempert wheel installed, previous owner had it set up in the "Y" position, when I flipped it to the correct position it is off about 10 degrees now.

For me, fixing this involves:

1) Disconnecting turn signal wires at the front of the car, requires removal of the left wheel to remove the grill.
2) Disconnecting the stator tube at the olive at the gearbox, letting steering fluid leak out and make a mess
3) Pulling the trafficator/stator tube assembly/turn signal wires all the way out of the steering column at the wheel side
4) Taping some twine to the wires so I can pull them all back down.
5) Removing Mike's wheel from the hub by removing the 9 small screws
6) Un-torquing the large Whitworth nut attaching the hub to the steering column(for which I cannot find an appropriate socket - going to try a 38mm socket...)
7) Turning the hub 10 degrees
8) Re-torque the large Whitworth nut - which is now probably stripped because I used a metric socket
9) Re-istalling the wheel and 9 screws
10) Pulling the turn signal wires back down, and probably having the taped twine come away from the wires lodging them halfway in the steering column
11) Yell at my wife and kids for no reason, other than the fact that I am frustrated
12) Re-terminate the turn signal connections because they have been broken off by being manhandled through the column.
13) Re-tighten the olive
14) Refill steering box

Any wonder that I've been avoiding this job for six months!