quick release steering wheel hubs

Hoping you folks can help me out.

In the process of building up my car, steering will be new from the rack up to the steering wheel. I'd like to put in a quick release hub(the splined kind). I'm planning on the weld on type. What I'm wondering, they seem to have 3 bolts available to bolt the steering wheel to the hub, but the more popular aftermarket wheels seem to have 6 holes. Is it a case of them being compatible, just using half of the bolts? Then I don't know if hub size (diameter) match with the diameter of where the wheel bolts on. I don't need a horn button on the wheel.

This one is inexpensive [some reason the image isn't showing....its a hex mount, with six bolt holes] but uses a hex interface instead of splines. I'm concerned about play....I don't want the wheel to feel loose on the shaft. Is that concern unfounded. I see the momo makes a weld on quick release, but that is over 200 bucks. So I'd rather skip that.

They usually bolt up to a wheel like this

They are easy to find at a circle track supplier. I like the splined coupler over the hex one. You don't get much play in either, but the splined one will let you move the wheel a couple degrees if you didn't get the front end exactly centered or if you run an offset car like we had.

So my question is, can I run a steering wheel with 6 bolt holes on a hub that has only 3? Do they have the same pattern?

Reason for asking is that I already have a nice moutney wheel, that I'd be happy to use.

I may have found my own answer, it looks like some places offer an adapter from 3 hole to the six hole. hub adapter So by my exceptional powers of deduction...it looks like they are not compatible. crud.

So I can spend around 60 -80 for a splined weld on to 3 bolt, then a 3 bolt to 6 bolt adapter. Or I can spend 40 bucks on one that uses a hex head, but has the 6 bolts already in place. Or I can buy the momo piece at $220.

Anyone know of a weld on splined quick release hub, for a 6 bolt wheel for under 80 bucks?

I believe the six bolt pattern uses a smaller bolt on a larger circle. Perhaps a Machine shop could make up some kind of adaptor ring

Or any half-brained hack can make one out of some 3/16" aluminum, a sharpie, and a drill press.

I think I've only made one sober before, no issues yet. (the steering wheel that did break off wasn't my creation)

No such beast as a cheap decent splined QR hub. Considering how important steering feel and feedback is, I'd seriously consider going with the quality splined piece. (I expect differing opinions on that.) I have not seen a hex hub that did not develop play after a while, although there are many ways to slow the rate at which it happens down. I bought the bolt on (IT legal) Momo piece about five years ago and can't say enough nice things about it or the vendor, LTB Motorsports, who is a racer and provides good customer service.

Has anyone tried one of these adapters?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/UNIVERSAL-QUICK-RELEASE-STEERING-WHEEL-ADAPTOR-BLACK_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trkparmsZ39Q3a1Q7c66Q3a2Q7c65Q3a15Q7c240Q3a1318QQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em14QQhashZitem300267610433QQitemZ300267610433

It looks like a Grant piece that came on my friend's Camaro. The Idea was that if you lugged you steering wheel around the mall noone would take your car. It was more trouble that it was worth and the one time he did get the wheel off he couldn't get it back on and needed to be towed home.

Definatly get the multi spline type. After 14 years of use my hex type has loads of play. I've had the multi spline sitting waiting for the time to put it in almost the whole season. Speedway has them cheap.

44

I put a splined setup on the Abomination, the recent J-H acquisition has a hex/button type. There is definitely a lot more freeplay in the hex unit. I'll probably upgrade that one to a splined type later on.

wreckerboy wrote: No such beast as a cheap decent splined QR hub. Considering how important steering feel and feedback is, I'd seriously consider going with the quality splined piece. (I expect differing opinions on that.) I have not seen a hex hub that did not develop play after a while, although there are many ways to slow the rate at which it happens down. I bought the bolt on (IT legal) Momo piece about five years ago and can't say enough nice things about it or the vendor, LTB Motorsports, who is a racer and provides good customer service.

I was think about getting a Momo quick release from LTB but I was a bit worried about the vendor because of the cut rate price. Looks like I know where I will get my quick release hub.

I used this one:

http://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS/555/60720/10002/-1

The Momo may be tighter, I dunno. This one's pretty snug and works well, it was $54.99. It's also available in a 5 bolt pattern.

Does anyone know of a good bolt-on quick release that doesn't cost $340?

Can't say enough good things about Lou at LTB. It's been two seasons since I've bought anything from him, but he is still well regarded in the IT and Spec Miata worlds.

Ressurection!

Anybody find a 6 bolt splined type quick release for cheap(ish)?

Thanks!

Rob R.

I run the $30 splined weld-on piece from Speedway with a 3->6 hole adapter ring I bought somewhere for $25 or so. It's been 5 years and there is no play issue thus far.

Having a lathe and a drill press these days... I'd whip up my own adapter plate so I could turn a lip to fit the wheel center and thread the holes (mine uses captive nuts that annoy me).

I recently bought one of these for my Miata just to see if they're any good.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/300854632788?item=300854632788&viewitem=&sspagename=ADME:L:OC:US:3160&vxp=mtr The construction is really solid and there's no play in it once attached. Only downside is the horn wiring interface is kinda crap. Overall I was very impressed, and you can't beat the price.

If I wasn't a poor college kid, I'd buy a momo hub, but this has worked very well. If you want a 6-bolt wheel, I would recommend it.

FYI, we have a hex quick release in the WR miata. To get rid of the slop, we put a couple tack welds on the hex shaft, then ground them down until the wheel could just slip onto the shaft. It works well and has very little play, but still more than the cheepo China unit I got on ebay.

Check out NRG. They have some pretty nice ones that click into place so they're always aligned.

I'm a fan of the one miatacage.com sells but you still need an adapter to go from 3 bolt to 6 bolt. It does thread on but they recommend a tack weld to keep it in place

For non-miata Allstar from racecareng.com looks to be the same in a weld on.

http://www.allstarperformance.com/product.htm?prod=400&part=ALL52304&add=no

Keith Tanner wrote: Check out NRG. They have some pretty nice ones that click into place so they're always aligned.

I like mine so far. bought an Momo to Grant adapter to bolt it to my Grant spline adapter. Moved the wheel out where I wanted it.

For the 3-bolt, check that the Grant 3-bolt pattern for their adapters doesn't fit directly. (behind the Grant wheel there is a collapsible spacer that bolts to their spline adapters with 3 bolts, it might be the same size)

In the past I used a splined/pinned type in my dirt latemodels. On two occasions i had the steering wheel come off when we forgot to reinstall the pin. I can tell you that it's almost impossible to reinstall the wheel when the green flag flies and you are in the middle of the pack. Desperate attempt to grab the spline with both hands resulted in spinning the car both times with no damage to the rest of the field. I now use the sliding collar type.

I had one of the NRG QRs on the M3, mainly as a 2" spacer. Once I installed the fixed seat I needed the wheel closer. I re-installed the seat w/o the slider last season and repositioned it so I didn't need it anymore, so I sold it. It's nice for a street if you genuinely need to remove the wheel to get in and out, but it's pretty complex for a race part.

I have one of the very basic splined ones on the Radical - but with the tiny Momo flat bottom/open top wheel I can easily get in and out w/o removing the wheel.

The Momo wheel was bought w/o holes - I drilled it to fit the flange on the QR.

The 949Racing team uses NRG on all the race cars. Between the two 25-hour races I've worked on with them with either a 3- or 4-car team, that comes out to about 160 hours of racing and all the driver changes that go along with it - I think every driver had their own wheel. No problems with the adapters, and the auto-alignment sure comes in handy in that situation.

I use one from LTB Autosports on the Targa Miata. No electrical connections, no indexing, welded on to the shaft. Works well, but I do wish I didn't need to wire in a coiled "tether" for the horn.