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Converting to Smart Wheel
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Supporting Member of Barthmobile.com 3/11
Picture of Tom  and Julie
posted
Just completed the conversion from the Gillig Bus Steering Wheel to a Smart Wheel. New coaches use these extensively and I wanted to get rid of switches and add on's in the dash. The new King Cruise Control to replace the non-functioning Bendix Air System was the principal motivation. The Smart Wheel moves the Cruise, Wipers and signal lights to the steering wheel rather than the dash. Also allows radio control but I didn't want that as we don't listen to the radio on the road.
This is doable but is not for the faint of heart! It requires a new steering column with a Clock Spring to allow all the functions of the turn signals, lights and wipers to work. You have to convert the wipers to electric, another not too easy job. That will be a later post. For this job here are the important steps:
Watch Ebay for steering columns from RV's that have Clock Springs. I found a 2003 Monaco Dynasty in a surplus house that was brand new. It is a tilt and telescoping column.($200). Then buy the Smart Wheel from Vehicle Improvement Products ($675). Remove the existing steering column being careful to center the front wheels so you can mount the new wheel properly when ready. The column is held by four bolts and the universal near the floor.
In my case the new column required a vertical mount and the Gillig was 30 degrees towards the front. Weld in a new plate to the existing column support being careful to locate the column bolt holes. They are different from the Gillig.
Then add relays to all the functions that will be moved to the steering wheel: Headlights (both low and high beam - 2 relays), wipers; turn signals, emergency flasher, horn, (including the Hadley Air Horns); the marker lights; and if included, the radio. The Cruise Control only switches grounds so no power goes to the steering wheel for that function. This is still a job, but it also improves the performance of those accessories by placing full 12v to the functions rather than the Barth typical 10 to 11 volts. Lots of write ups about this on this site.
I hated the Gillig/Barth dash area with a rats nest of unmarked wires, and they all seemed to be 14 or 12/10 gauge. The replacement with relays lets you change to 18 gauge, though you should also change any circuit breakers to 5 and at most 10 amps. We don't want the wires to become hot and be the circuit breakers and 10 gauge breakers will not trip until after the fire! New CB's are cheap and easy to add, if you can figure out which circuit that are on. Not much help in the schematics as I have never figured out where the various CB's and circuits are located in the power panel.
Overall this is a nice to have change but you will spend $$$ and time making it happen. I spent the better part of a month working a few hours per day to run new wires etc. Some of that was the replacement of the hydraulic fan motor when installing the cruise control reveled a long term leak that was not noticed because it is hidden on the street side and accessible only from the bedroom.
Pictures are being sent to Rusty as I don't do this enough to remember how.





1993 32' Regency Wide Body, 4 speed Allison Trans, Front Entry door, Diamond Plate aluminum roof &
1981 Euro 22' w Chevy 350 engine and TH 400 tranny
 
Posts: 1513 | Location: Houston Texas | Member Since: 12-19-2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Picture of J Davis
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Holy cow! That has to be the mother of all steering wheels. That thing has more gadgets than a swiss army knife. Nice looking setup.

1989 Regal 25'
P30 Chevy
 
Posts: 46 | Location: Sanford,NC | Member Since: 10-19-2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Supporting Member of Barthmobile.com 3/19
Picture of Mogan David
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VERY IMPRESSIVE, Tom. A serious update project.
 
Posts: 2005 | Location: Jackson, Michigan, USA | Member Since: 04-18-2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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