Steering wheel extension for tall bastards.

This is the one thing I wish was better in my truck.

 

I'm 6'5'' and have long legs. But I also have equally long arms. Never had an issue reaching a wheel in a car even though I sit far enough back to look out the back window in some cars. As far as my knees high on the steering wheel, I drove a regular cab taco for several years and liked being able to steer with my knees at 9&3.

 

And....



Tiny arms?

Good luck.

 

You didn’t originally mention trying the adjustment, or the adjustment at all...so that’s why I made my comment. Maybe you would have had a eureka moment. Assuming is how you make decisions with only the facts you have (or don’t).

It sounds like you have odd proportions. When you do designs around ergonomics, you try to accommodate as many people as you can (duh). I usually try to do 90th percentile or greater, but I design industrial machinery usually. Sounds like you, unfortunately, are an edge case proportionally and even an optimized design would leave you out.

All your options are plausible.

1) pull off your wheel. take some pics. (or find them and post here). Even an exploded view. If it looks doable, I’ll take a stab at a solution with SW. Problem is, I think you’ll need internal splines which can be a bitch to machine.

2) find a wheel with enough buttons on it. I know they can be wired in, but might need an interface board or something. Find a wheel with comparable amount of buttons and I’ll look at the EWD.

3) this seems like the last option for you if 1 or 2 doesn’t work.

Thanks for a well thought out post. And thanks for assuming I was being a jerk.

 

To be fair, I am a massive 5'8" with short legs. Perhaps this truck is the answer to my back problems. My back pain has significantly decreased since buying this truck. Could be the position of the steering wheel and seats.

 

Same way reduced pain. Just need some long ass arms.

 

Tall 6'5" bastard here as well, long legs and arms, much like an orangutan -- to remain comfortable for long drives, I slide all the way back, but then my arms are reaching so far to get the wheel that I can't use the arm rests anywhere, and I'm not about to 10&2 it for the entire drive. It's either that or I slide the seat forward and then my ass goes numb, so I'd much rather just be stuck with the dilemma of "Where do I put my hands?". I've had mild success adjusting the lumbar, as it helps me keep my legs back but my torso forward, without sitting like I have a back brace on.

Not something I think about until I'm on those long trips, but seriously another 2" would feel so much better. (Phrasing?) Due to the controls I don't think the solution will be found in the wheel itself, but in the actual column. I already plan on going back to a fullsize pickup in a few years since I've just conceded that that taco isn't a giant's vehicle, and for now I'm fine with that.

 

My arms are proportional to my torso. My legs are long. Hope the drawing clarifies my issue for you

 

Glad to hear you have the same issue. I assure you it can be fixed without messing with the column. Done it out countless cars before. The point of this thread is to find a clean solution other than slapping a race wheel and loseing all the buttons on the stock wheel and the airbag.

 

Yeah it will likely need to be a two piece design. Bottom much like an nrg hub with internal splines that you can bolt onto the column and integrate with the clock spring. Then a second piece with an external spline post (dangle..terminology word) that we can bolt the stock wheel onto. This weekend I will pull the wheel apart and take pics.

 

hahahahahahahaaha nice.

 

Also I'm a jerk so no hard feeling man. I just hate my job and take it out on everyone around me. I love you tho... I always have

Also what I was thinking was using an nrg short hub which I'm sure they will make for this truck.
Then simply make the spline post with a race steering wheel bolt pattern and bolt it up to this. Then we don't have to worry about the clock spring internal treads or crazy wiring.

 

So this is getting easy then...if you start with that piece/a similar adapter...

All you need is basically a flanged piece (to attach to the race wheel pattern) with a male splined shaft sticking up and threads to reattach the large nut.

You’d need a way to pass wires through that adapter I reckon. You might need to extend the wires which could be a problem.
EDIT: the clockspring is going to be a problem, it just pokes into the back of the steering wheel. You’d need to index it to the adapter thing at the very least.

Hell, you might be able to ditch the center nut/shaft all together and drill a pattern in to the frame of the wheel or something. You could put a 4 hole pattern through the metal frame and then just make an interface plate.

 

Like this^

But yeah drilling the stock wheel or making a plate to mount it to an adapter might be an option too. Hmmm hmmm hmmm

 

MORE DRAWINGS

 

Should have drawn a big weiner.

 

You missed one ^

 

Yup! That.

Won’t know if it works out proportionally (pun not intended, lol) until you take it apart and take measurements and pics.

I think you are missing how the wheel harness connects to the clockspring. Go look up a junk 2016/17 column on ebay with pics...the wires individually plug into the female plugs on the clockspring x3 and it’s just poking through the back of the wheel behind the airbag.

 

That is not a second arm in that pic...

 

What inseam are you OP? I'm 6'5" and also have a hard time getting comfortable in my truck.