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Guys:

I have been thinking about swapping out my steering wheel and wondered if one from a Rabbit or Jetta, for example, would be a bolt on affair. I know that I can do an entire column swap and get goodies such as intermittent wipers and the like, but for now I just want to know about switching the wheel itself.

Thanks,
Rick

Rick can`t remember the year of your Thing. If you have a 73 the bug wheel is the one. If you have a 74 the Rabbit one is right. Of course you can swap steering columns to adjust but thats a lot of work. Putting in the entire Rabbit column though is a good thing. See details here. www.thingtech.com Good luck. Bob Ingman

Thanks Bob. I have a '74 and hoped that your answer would be just what it was.

Rick

I went to the Junkyard and there were no Rabbits, so I got one from an Audi that looked like it would work. Well, it won't. So, I will try to modify it this weekend to see if I can make it work.

If not, can someone please tell which specific year Rabbit steering wheels will work on a '74 Thing?

Thanks again,
Rick

Rick the link posted above 78-84 Rabbit assembly. Good luck. Bob Ingman

Does anyone have pointers on modifying a steering wheel?

I mistakenly bid on an 84-92 passat wheel... would be cool in a thing... unfortunately the spline size is bigger.

Haven't tried modifying -- not plan

Any comments on how to make a bigger hole fit a smaller spline?

T.

Countersunk cross bolts might get the job done.About three or four of them would be enough. Have to think more on this one though. Good luck. Bob Ingman

Airhead are you sure the splines are different? I pulled a bunch of steering wheels (VW and Audi-one Porsche) when I was at the junkyard and they all seemed to be of the same spline size and all had the same sized retaining nut. (Of course, this may have been due to the year of the vehicles I was looking at) The reason the one I got won't fit is because the shape of the rear of wheel's contour hits the turn signal bar.

I will check to see if this can be modified, but you may want to check that again. Sorry if this seems overly obvious as you've probably already checked this.

Do you think that the splined collar from your Thing's wheel can be removed? If so, maybe it can be somehow joined (welded?) to the inside of the Passat's larger collar.

Good luck,
Rick

Rick & Bob.

The Passat Shaft is at at least 1/4" wider.

I chose the steering wheel because it had a ton of clearance behind... it kind of mounts flat and then flares forward.

I tried to prep the center hub of a bus wheel... couldn't get a weld to stick to it.

Anyone need a pristine Passat Steering wheel?

T