Is there a slick way of electrically connecting the steering wheel with the chassis while still allowing the steering wheel to be quickly & completely removed?
Karl
Yes, Karl, there is-- I used this method in my street rod that had a removable steering wheel. It was for a horn button on the steering wheel but the same idea could be used for a chute or kill switch.
I used a 1.4" phone jack in the center of the steering column and a phone plug in the center of the steering wheel. It pulls out when the steering wheel is released. The advantage of using a phone plug is that it does not matter how the steering wheel is oriented-- it works any way the steering wheel is put back on.
Regards, Neil Tucson, AZ
Neil,
what a great idea! do you have a pic?
Thanks,
Karl
I wish I did.
My steering column is a 3/4" DOM steel tube; I used an appropriate sized washer and brazed a retaining nut for the phone jack on the backside before brazing it on to the end of the column. I soldered a wire to the jack terminal (the one that connects to the plug tip) fed it through the hole in the washer and out through a small hole drilled through the side of the column-- forward of the upper bearing or column support. A turn or two around the column allows the column to rotate without pulling on the wire. Make sure that hole is deburred inside & out or it will eventually cut through the insulation. A piece of shrink tubing is helpful to reinforce the wire insulation. Now the quick- release fitting can be fastened to the top of the column. The phone jack is then threaded into the washer & retaining nut. It should be in the exact center of the column.
I made a thin plate to fit between the quick- release and the rear of the steering wheel. I had drilled a hole for the threaded barrel of the phone plug in that plate and used a retaining nut, reinforced with epoxy, and installed the plug. It, too should be in the exact center of the steering wheel mounting hole. The plug & jack should mate when the steering wheel is mounted. The tip connection to the plug then can connect to one terminal of a steering wheel- mounted switch; the other switch terminal then goes to the body of the steering wheel.
This way the switch makes contact from the wire through the steering column to ground (only when the steering wheel is installed, of course). If you need to use two wires instead of one wire & ground, you'll need to insulate both the jack & plug bodies with something like a nylon washer, etc. Make sure your phone jack is not the type that makes contact between its tip & body when the plug is removed... otherwise you'll pop the chute when you pull the steering wheel off!
I hope this is not too confusing.
Regards, Neil Tucson, AZ
