[jcruse64]

Found a green steering wheel finally, to replace the black one in my '73 W200 crew; all the rest of the interior,except seat belts, is green. New wheel came off a '76 D100. I pulled my truck's wheel off with little problem. It, and the steering shaft, have no master spline/key, and I can easily put the original wheel back on the shaft in any position. The green one does not appear to fit at any position. I thought all the 70's shaft ends would swap, and if a wheel WAS keyed, you could file it down and do the swap. This green wheel does not appear to have a master spline/key, either. Are the 2WD and 4WD steering wheels NOT interchangeable

 

[Elwenil]

What is not fitting, the number of splines, diameter or damage to one or the other?  I think they should all swap.  I have a Grant wheel that was originally on a '88 W150, then I put it on a '72 Charger SE, then on a '74 W100, and now it is on my '88 Ramcharger.

 

[jcruse64]

Looks like the same # of splines, and I don't see any damage. Eyeball says diameter is the same; will measure tomorrow. I didn't see anything that needed to be filed down. It almost feels like the '76 2WD wheel is just a tiny bit smaller in diameter. No damage to steering shaft; the original wheel slides right on very easily, in multiple clock positions. I searched here before asking, and the only thing I saw that made me question if there was a difference between 2WD and 4WD was a old post from bikinkawaboy, who had converted a '77 2WD to a 4WD. He made it seem like he'd found a difference between the two wheels.

 

[Elwenil]

The only differences I can see is that sometimes the manual steering wheels are a larger diameter than the power steering wheels, but I don't know if that would change the splines or diameter or not.

 

[jcruse64]

Hmmm, mine is power steering, and so was the 2WD. Gotta replace a rubber fuel line tomorrow, and get it out for a trial spin, if it will go. Will mess around with the wheel some more this coming week and report back. Thanks!

 

[rod1701]

Nope. Found out the hard way. D-series and W-series steering wheels don't interchange.

Did the same as you, bought one from a '78 D200 to go on my '79 W-150. The 2WD should have the index key where the 4WD do not. Was told that i could file out and around the index notch and it would fit. No dice. Tried to get it to slip on with hand pressure to make sure alignment was right and broke the C-Clip. Not sure but believe spline count is different.

Still using a crappy 13-14" aftermaket wheel with an adapter and hate it.

 

[daryl78powerwagon]

Last year I had the same problem. I bought a 1978 w150 and it had a tiny steering wheel on it and it was loose. After some close investigation the wheel was installed with the wrong adapter. The spline count was wrong and someone tried to force it on and stripped the threads on the shaft. I was able to recut some new threads on it and count the splines, it is a 40 spline shaft. We bought a new Grant steering wheel and the advised kit to install it. The spline count on the adapter they sent was 36 not 40. I called them and multiple companies and they have all told me I have a different steering colum in the truck. It's been 9 months and have yet to find the correct 40 spline adapter. I did see lately that lmc truck has adapters and they do have different part numbers between d/w series trucks. Mine also doesn't have the steering wheel lock so I bought the internal parts off ebay and plan to install the internal wheel locking mech someday.