Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 Extra Lifeline steering wheel quick release issue

Hi all,

I bought an extra lifeline steering wheel quick release which is the same as the one currently in my new to me 2016 three wheeler to use on a second steering wheel I have. The new lifeline quick release is not going on the car's steering "boss" though. It appears that the boss on the car is slightly too big, maybe the spines on the new part are slightly different? What are some suggestions to make this work?

The splines on my 2013 M3W Lifeline quick release are 20mm diameter, with a master spline, which is the standard Lifeline QR size I think. That is the cars steering column spline outside diameter size, if that helps? It is definitely Lifeline and not Traven? It should be Lifeline as Traven QR's were fitted post April 2017.

Its a lifeline for sure. The new one I got came with a spline that you would install on the steering column if there was not one there already. Those splines line up with the cars installed master spline. The new adapter will go in a small bit, but gets too tight to fully lock. It's like there is a small machining difference in the new and the old. I was thinking of just slowly filing down the splines on the new one and see what happened, but hoped somebody had already dealt with this first.

From what you say, particularly as the new adaptor is tight, the small machining difference sounds favourite. I would be inclined to contact Lifeline and explain the issue and see if they will replace the QR. These are not a cheap things and should work without you having to file it. If you start altering it they will not replace it I would guess.

Have talked to Lifeline in the past and they insist that the weld on spline and QR are supplied as a matched pair and weren't impressed when I asked if their spline manufacturing was so bad that they had to hand fettle everything. I replaced my original QR which had started out looser than it should be and had got worse with time, with a new one which just fitted, and no, I didn't cut the splines off the steering column and weld on the "matching" new spline.
I wouldn't be surprised if your new QR will fit the original spline with only the most minor of fettling. Might be worth giving things a clean up with contact cleaner then blueing up the splines and seeing where it is tight before starting in with the needle files?

I contacted lifeline and said the same thing, the two parts are machined matched together and are not decided to be swapped around. Since I already have the new one and can't return it, I may just slowly file it down little by little and see what happens.