I'm doing a fairly complete restoration of a 1966 F700 grain dump truck. In the process of replacing the steering box (manual), the steering wheel broke (C3TZ3600R). That's an 18 in. 3 spoke wheel which no one seems to have. As its a manual system, I need the leverage of the 18 in. wheel but a larger one will be too big. Any suggestions on a replacement good substitution would be greatly appreciated.

 

You might want to look at the reproduction steering wheels for the 57 to 60 pickups. It seems that this same style was used on the F Series Mediums until about 66. The wheel has an internal spline that mates to the spline on the shaft. The pickups and some mediums had 18" wheels in 57 to 60.

 

There has to be one in a junkyard somewhere. As far as I know they will all fit as long
as it is from any F700 & up N and L cabovers 3 spoke dish wheels. The serrated shaft
is about an inch fine thread. So under F600s wont work I think their shafts are about
3/4 inch. Years ago I broke one on a F8 and a Ross wheel went right on there. White
trucks had Ross wheels as a lot of fire trucks.

 

So what part of your wheel broke? plastic cover or the steel ring or spoke? any wheel could be repaired. Weld the spoke and use epoxy to fix the plastic and paint it.
I wouldn't be afriad to fix one. what do you have to loose?

 

Just for the fun of it I checked out a 1985 L9000, far as I see it this should go right on Is identical to my 1956 F8

 

Welcome to FTE

C3TZ-3600-N .. White 18" 3 spoke Steering Wheel / Obsolete

C3TZ-3600-R .. Black 18" 3 spoke Steering Wheel / Obsolete

Fits: 1963/66 B & F500/750 (B~School Bus) // 1963/65 N/NT500/750 (some of these N/NT's came with 20" wheels, as did 1966/69's).

No Ford Dealer or obsolete parts vendor has any.

1961/62 B/F500/750; 1961/65 F100/250 4WD & F350; 1966 F250 4WD used 4 spoke 18" steering wheels (C1TZ-3600-A~Black / C1TZ-3600-B~white). No one has any of these either.

All of the above use the same horn button. 1960 and earlier, 1967 and later is not the same...and it's not the same for the following steering wheels:

1961/66 F100/250 2WD & 1966 F100 4WD & 1967/70 F100/250 2WD/4WD & 1969/70 F350 & 1961/63 Falcon/Comet & 1966/72 Bronco all use the same 3 spoke 17" diameter steering wheels.

A long time Los Angeles truck dismantlers yard has some NOS (New, Old Stock) white big truck steering wheels. I cannot recall how many spokes, the diameter, or what they are for...so, I'll have to go look at them.

There may be some used steering wheels there, also. The problem is, Ford didn't mark these steering wheels in any way with ID numbers.

* Are you sure your F700 is a 1966? It has a 1965 grille. If you post the last 6 numbers of the VIN, I'll verify the year.

 

Thanks guys for all the help. The metal structure of the wheel is intact. It was the plastic hub that broke as well as the usual cracks on the spokes. I'm going to try repairing the broken parts with PC7 epoxy.
For Numberdummy: the Vin is F70DU906129. I believe that grill was also used on 66 mediums before the diagonal one became universal. Thanks to your previous and numerous comments on other threads, I had already searched the vendors such as Green, Miller and others for a replacement.
Thanks again everybody.

 

No 1966 came with a 1965 grille, in fact...

The 1965 grilles (painted, anodized aluminum) were obsoleted by Ford 9/1965, replaced by the 1966 grilles for use as service part replacements.

In September 1965, I ordered a '65 anodized aluminum grille (C5TZ-8200-B) to replace the painted grille (C5TZ-8200-A) in my bought new (in March) 1965 F100 Standard Cab.

A 1966 grille (C6TZ-8200-B) was substituted instead. I returned it to Ford, because I didn't like the design of '66 grilles then...and still don't.

F70 = F700.

D = 330 2V Heavy Duty FT engine.

U = Louisville KY Assembly Plant.

906129 = 1966, assembled August 1966, just before the changeover occured for the beginning of 1967 model run assembly.

1966 serial number range: 732,000-913,999.

Your truck is a 1966, but sometime since, a used 1965 grille was installed by a previous owner.

 

If I remember correctly newer (90's) Kenworth wheels have the same spline as my 66 has.

I dont really want to pull mine to count the splines. I have a couple KW wheels sitting in the shop. If you count the spline on yours I can check to make sure they're the same, then you should have a huge selection to choose from.

 

I ended up repairing the old wheel using PC7 epoxy, adhesion promoter, and Duplicolor Gloss Black paint. It looks good and works just fine with the new steering box. A picture of the repaired wheel is in my "In Progress" album.