Power King Steering Wheel Fix

[doublezero]

I have a 1978 Power King 2414 I bought last year and it is a fantastic machine!
The only problem I had was that the steering wheel was badly cracked. I found NOS replacements for $40 on ebay, but the thought occurred to me that these would be made out of the same material, and poor design (my opinion) as the original.
SO, the brain was put into gear and I took a walk back to the local crap pile and dragged home a 1979 Corvette tilt-telescoping steering column with a 14" diameter steering wheel the end of it. The Power King wheel is 14" also.
I had no idea if the shaft size would be the same or not, but was prepared to make whatever adjustments needed to get it to fit. I removed the remains of the original wheel and slid the Corvette wheel onto the shaft. It was tight once it got to the splines, so I installed the retaining nut and ran it down snug with the impact gun.
It appears to be a perfect fit, and I swear the old tractor seems to take the corners just a *little* bit quicker with that sporty car steering wheel on there.
I would imagine that other GM steering wheels would fit, and the automotive wheels seem to be built a bit stronger than what the Power King had originally. Maybe I'll upgrade to one from a '66 Caprice if I can find a decent one.

[jeepersmitty]

Good thinking. We really need to see a picture of that.

[bontai Joe]

Yeah, a pic would definitely be good. Hopefully we don't have a Vette guys here that have been searching fo an original steering wheel..... any chance you can hook a horn up to the wheel? That would be cool.

[mjdtexan]

<------- waits for picture of that there wheel

[Tractor-Holic]

I've discovered many car and truck steering wheels have the same size splines in them..I used a 80's Cavalier steering wheel in place of the huse stock one on my 77 GMC,that rubbed my knees when I put bucket seats in it,it fit perfectly and had the same diameter at the colum where the shifter was too..

I noticed at the junkyard most Fords from the 60's up had the same splines as GM's too--I used a 50's Dodge steering box from a "step-van" mail truck that had the steering shaft about 3' long made right into the box,and someone stole the steering wheel already--so I tried my old GMC one,and it fit perfectly!..

I searched about every car and truck in the junkyard for a one that had a keyed shaft 3/4" in diameter for a tractor I needed one for,but only found a few on very old cars from the 40's and 50's,and they were way too big to use...I ended up using a 10" pulley I saw on an old cement mixer someone junked,it was perfect size and I thought it looked cool!..was better than the Vise-Grips I was using as a "tiller" previously!...

Then my friend showed me those weld on keyed hubs they sell at farm stores and bearing supply places you can weld to sprockets and pulleys,they come in every bore size imagineable and even in PTO splined and hex bore versions..that opened up endless possibilities ,you can bolt or weld them to just about anything and use it,including steering wheels!..

I used a pair of them with a 1" keyed bore welded to a front hub off a 97 Cavalier to allow the rims from it to bolt on a tractor that had 1" keyed axles instead of lugs,and it worked well!...you do what ya gotta do when fixing up old stuff you cant always find original parts for anymore!..:thThumbsU

[doublezero]

I've attached a picture of my steering wheel upgrade. You will notice that it is not a Corvette wheel as previously reported. This is because I quickly tired of the sporty attitude my tractor adopted with the Corvette wheel in place. I found a far more practical and better looking wheel on a '66 Impala and chose to replace the Corvette part.
Now I can motor sedately along the south 40 and still look cool as I do it.

Other than that I have been busy fixing the floppy front axle and patching some holes in the mower deck.
Anyone know where I can get some gaskets for the rear end?

[jas11964]

Try Mission Manufacturing for the gaskets. I'm not sure all of them are still available but, whatever is can be found there. They own all the rights now.

http://www.powerkingtractor.com/

Great looking wheels. Definetely adds a touch of class.:thThumbsU

[Volfandt]

Good thing you swapped that steering wheel, that Vette wheel would have raised your insurance rates :D :D

Humm, theres something about that chrome horn assembly, yepp i"d say it's definitely increased your go-fast HP :D