Steering column / horn rod mis-match

[Joe K]

Tudor would have had the "thin spoke" 28-29 wheel and the "escutcheon" type control top for the light rod. IIRC, these came in two lengths, one aimed at the 7 tooth box and the other aimed at the "Gemmer" Two tooth box. The 7 tooth top/wheel would be spline and the Gemmer used a key/taper on the steering wheel juncture.

1930-31 would have the "fat spoke" wheel with the "flat center type control top for the light rod. IIRC, these come in three lengths to match the corresponding steering column. All of these had a key/taper.

The 28-29 wheels are kind of "matched" to the 28-29 column, with the "wider" arc for the spark/throttle rods to work against. Likewise the 30-31 wheels are matched to the 30-31 column to include the "narrower" arc for spark/throttle rods.

I don't think from your description you have a 28-29 wheel on a 30-31 box - although this is possible if the wheel has a "key."

So you may have a "mix & match" which will require a custom made horn rod.

OR you could go "all 30-31" to include the steering wheel, in which case you want to use the horn rod that corresponds to your steering shaft column.

It was not unusual to replace a failed earlier setup with a later setup - shops would do what was necessary to "keep the paint in motion" and minimize cost to the customer.

Bratton's Catalog has the correspondence between steering column length and horn rod length. Below a cut from a previous entry to Fordbarn.





Not too readable, but I'm not sure the Bratton Online Catalog has the same info.

Joe K