I have a 71 duster... did any cars come stock with a smaller diameter wheel?

I'm trying to get a bit more steering feel on the cheap. Has anyone had experience with a smaller wheel and how it affected steering effort?

I have had smaller wheels (13.5-14") on all my Darts. Still have them on my '64 Dart and Project V. It does increase steering effort, but not too bad. It also makes it easier to steer quickly since you have less distance/throw with your arms. I like them.

I ended up putting the stock wheel back on my '68 Dart because I liked the look better, and it had a worn steering box until I recently replaced it.

Another relatively cheap steering upgrade (for manual box) is the 20:1 steering chuck. You can get the worm/ballnut pkg for about $150 and it is a snap to install as I just found out. You can get a rebuild kit (bearings/seals) and the 20:1 unit from dartman67@aol.com. I'm about to put the rebuilt box into Project V for a test...

Cheers,

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

My duster is power. A buddy told me to get a bigger pulley for the pump, but somewhere I recall reading thats not a good idea because that would make the box not work right.

Lou, where did you get your smaller steering wheels, did you need an adapter?

If you have power, then steering effort will not be a problem, and I wouldn't mess with pulleys. You do need an adapter, and Grant sells them for you car in a $15 kit. Look at summitracing.com. To me a 13-14" diam wheel feels best.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Lou - I was looking at the wheels and kits, and thought of something I wanted to ask you before I bought anything. The turn signal canceling ring fits snuggly over the original wheel. Do the grant wheels/adapters have something to cancel the turn signal as well?

I put a Cordoba wheel on my '73 truck and it was a perfect fit. It's 2" smaller in diameter than the stock wheel.

Except for partially blocking my view of the top of the speedometer, I love the smaller size.

Pierre;

I got a 3 spoke and a 4 spoke 14" Grant steering wheel for my Dart and Duster..Everything fits and works great...My 3 spoke is similar to the tuff steering wheel...got it from a seller on ebay for around $39 plus $14 for an adaptor


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... 1&tc=photo


Jerry

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73 Dart 4dr
70 duster
75 VW bug
ex-88 honda rice rocket
ex-70 cuda 383

I just got a grant 838 wheel and 3314 adapter. Since I wanted to do this project cheaply, I got the least expensive wheel I could find. Only thing I don't like about it is the center spokes are chrome which is a bit too flashy for my tastes. Hopefully its a cheap plating, maybe I'll sand it down and brush paint it black.



Image courtesy of kragen.com

Nice Wheel. i got the same one at the swap meet. got lucky end of the day sale for 5 bucks just need to be cleaned up. i also used the 3314 adapter kit be sure not to tighten it down to tight just like i did. now when i turn the black ring scraps

Are you sure the scraping sound is the black cover? I recall reading somewhere that if you bend the part thats supposed to cancel out the turn signal it can scrape on the inside as well.

Or did you use the original turn signal canceling ring and put it on the back of the aluminum adapter? I also read somewhere that either you can use the included pins, or your original canceling ring if it will fit on the adapter.

Gentlemen, I put that same Grant wheel (an all-time classic!) on a Scamp several years back with their adapter kit. I remember I had to make several subtle improvements for the horn button to work reliably (but don't remember what I did... ). I do distinctly remember, however that I had to trim the hazard flasher switch a little because it interfered with the black adapter ring... This may or may not be your problem, depending on year of the car and assembly line tolerances. I think I also obtained an appropriate washer to place under the adapter because it was scraping the housing a bit as well.

D/W

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If it ain't broke, fix it!

Just got back from a spin with the new wheel. Neat-o. I can now see my full windshield because the steering wheel doesn't go up past the dashboard into the field of view, and my arms are in a lower, closer together more natural position then up and out. I *think* there may be an ever so slight increase in steering feel/effort (which I wanted) but its possibly just my imagination as well.

No issue with the signal cancelation, the 3314 hub I noticed has the cancelation part built into it. The black ring didn't rub, infact it is about 1/16" away from the colum. Maybe if it did rub for you then you forgot to install the metal sleeve on the shaft before the hub? That would cause the hub to sink too low into the colum and then would allow the ring to touch the colum.

I tightend down the center nut well, but I didn't want to put too much torque on the three smaller bolts because the hub is aluminum. I may take those three screws back out and put some of the weaker locktite on them so nothing works loose, but it probably isn't necessary.

I put a grant steering wheel on my car and my back cover scrapes also. I will take it back off during the holidays and put a spacer under it.

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82 D150-225/727
02 Dakota-3.9/5 speed
87 GMC C7000-8.2 Detroit Diesel/5+2

For the guys that had scraping issues - what kit were you using? I noticed that their was 2 kits:

3314 kit was listed for 70-87 All chrysler except tilt, thats what the grant and summit website told me to use for a 71 duster.

4413 was listed for 68-72 dart, barracuda, and a few others.

It was a tossup as which one was the right one for my 71 duster, but I chose the 3314 because thats the one grants website said to use (and kragen didn't have 4413 instock either).

With the 3314 kit at least, you deffinately need to use the included sleeve or else the hub will sink too far down on the splines, setting the black circle too low as well.

i put my grant steering wheel on my 73 dart that i got for christmas yesterday. the kit i used was the 3314. the black hub doesnt rub although it is close, probably an 1/8th of an inch. it would for sure be rubbing if i hadnt have used the spacer.

the wheel, a 1170 mahogony wheel, looks great and i like the way it feels compared to the pencil then, semi truck diameter wheel that was original to the car.