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MG TD TF 1500 - Steering Wheel Deterioration

I just removed the cover from my steering wheel to commence restoration and determined that it is badly deteriorated. It appears "dried out" and has many loose areas and has detached from the steel core in a number of places. I can repair it with bondo, but in this condtion it will take a lot of effort. Can someone suggest a source of used steering wheels to allow a better base for a restoration?


Corey Pedersen

Corey,

Are you wanting a wood steering wheel? If so, contact Gordon Lawson. He can take your existing wheel and make one for you. I am assuming he still does this. If you want to do your own I think he has the plans on his site.

Rob
Rob Welborne

..i'm not doing them anymore, but here is how I did it....

http://gblandco.com/oldwheel/oldwheel.html
gblawson(gordon- TD27667)

Corey-
Your original wheel looks to be in pretty sad condition. If it was cracked some but the base was in fairly good condition you could restore it using a two part epoxy restoration kit that Eastwood sells. The kit has an excellent instructional book. I've used it twice with great results.

http://www.eastwood.com/master-steering-wheel-repair-kit-w-instruc.html

If you want to replace the wheel you might try John Kimble. He makes reproductions from original patterns. Fairly expensive though.

http://www.johnkimble.co.uk/main.htm

Cheers,
Roy

Roy Challberg

My wheel was severely cracked and also had some broken areas. I used Devcon epoxy to redo mine after grinding out all the cracks and filled in the broken chipped areas. Came out pretty nice. The color isn't the best, but it looks good on the car. PJ




PSJ

#2



PSJ

#3



PSJ

Another shot of the steering wheel. PJ


PSJ

I have collected about a half dozen used steering wheels over the years. None are in any better shape than yours. I suggest you consider a reproduction from Moss or an aftermarket wheel.
David Littlefield

Corey
I have TD 0460 and so you can imagine my steering wheel was pretty bad. I thought about doing a home repair but in the end I bought a Moss original style wheel and it looks very sharp.
R A B Wilson

Might contact Ben Cordsen. I believe he can restore it to like new condition.
L E D LaVerne

http://www.gomog.com/allmorgan/steeringwheel.htm
Len Fanelli

Nice job Gordon pretty straight forward design/layout. just inquiring seem not to be able to identify two dimensions #1 thickness of the stock that you find to give a comfortable grip #2 the shorter dimension for your suggestion to extend the parallelogram to 7 /12" inches
Jon Levine

I think I will proceed with my original plan. I've done steering wheels before, but not with a wheel in such bad condition. I plan to use a leather cover, so appearance is not an issue, just strength and shape. Bondo is easy to work with, and strong enough for this task, so that's what I'm going to start with. I'll test as I go, to make sure the repair has adequate strength for the task.

Thanks for all the responses.
Corey Pedersen

...if your covering with leather in the end, just use a thick felt ... it comes in various thicknesses....i think my original felt right with 1/4"... glued it on and sewed the leather cover over it.....

This was midway through...tacked every couple inches...then sewed it snug and tight.....


gblawson(gordon- TD27667)

....Jon.... each layer is 1/8" thick...and there are 7 layers.... the finished wheel is approx 7/8" x 7/8"

the width of the pieces are approx 2" give or take.......
gblawson(gordon- TD27667)

I don't think bondo is a good choice. It doesn't have any structural strength and it won't flex with the wheel.

An epoxy would be better. There are kits for steering wheels available from Eastwood and others.
David Littlefield

Hi Corey,
Yours might be a bit worse than mine was, but I redid mine with Smith's "CPES" penetrating epoxy sealer and their epoxy putty, the same stuff I used for repair of some rot in the body wood. It's available from boat supply places, like Jamestown Distributors. You can see pix at
<www.boatanchors.org/mgtf.htm>
about 1/3 way soen for the wood work, and near the bottom for the steering wheel, which did get a leather cover.
Not a difficult job.
Al Parker
54 TF Emma
A W Parker

Corey, mine was as bad as yours, sent it to Pearlcraft and it came back looking like this.




R Taylor

OK, I'm convinced that epoxy is a better option.

The Pearlcraft repair is very impressive. What was the price of the repair?
Corey Pedersen

For $320. a new repo of the original from Moss can be had. I would assume having a professional restorer do it would not be too far from that price, probably more. Don't know, just guessing. PJ
PSJ

Just visited Moss, $399.95 for gold or $459.95 for black, plus shipping.

But they only show the wheel with four sets of spokes not the type on my TD, 3 sets of spokes.

Pearl Craft does do beautiful work the two wheels I have seen that they did were better than I can describe. When I checked Peal Craft over a year ago the price varied depending on the amount of repairs needed, the base price was more than the Moss price.
G D

Cory,
The wheel in our car was bad,,, so when it came to replace it, I chose a Moto Lita the big advantage is that it is smaller in diameter than the original, so it gave me more leg room, easier entry and exit from the car, and a better driving "feel",,, not like steering a bus with the large original wheel,,,

SPW
STEVE WINCZE

GD, you are looking in the wrong place. The factory repro wheel can be found in the Steering section, part number 454-230. I think you are looking in "Accessories."

List price is $320, as PJ pointed out, but it can be had on sale for $272 from Lbcarco.com through September 21st.

NFI.
David Littlefield

Corey, it really depends on how much work they have to do to your wheel plus just how much bling you want it to have when their done...mine was approx. double the Moss wheel.
R Taylor

Mine is wrapped in leather and I have not taken that off in 30 years. I will probably find that it is as bad.

I looked into rebuilding for my MGB steering wheel. Not inexpensive and more than a replacement.


Question I have is does anyone know what plastic they use to build these? It would not be hard to make a mold, but trying to find out what plastic to buy to pour it is not something I have been able to find.
Bruce Cunha

Bruce, I think Ben Cordsen restores steering wheels by pouring in a mold so you might give him a shout.
R Taylor

This thread was discussed between 15/09/2012 and 18/09/2012

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