Openwheeler steering wheel plate issue.

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Petroperu

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Just noticed that my steering wheel is moving about 4 degrees off center and upon inspection I found out the screw base is worn.
Is this something I can fix with homemade parts or do I just have to buy another replacement part?
20200807_145909.jpg
 
Just noticed that my steering wheel is moving about 4 degrees off center and upon inspection I found out the screw base is worn.
Is this something I can fix with homemade parts or do I just have to buy another replacement part?
View attachment 947464
I have this cockpit too, its my old one now, but I am very familiar with it. What exactly is the issue with the wheel deck, I cant tell from the pictures what the problem is, other than seeing a few scratches and maybe the screws are loose? I have an adapter plate I made for mine that has Thrustmater and FANATEC hole patterns in it. I will give it to you for free if you want it, just pay for the shipping and its yours. I made it out of Delrin plastic to shift my wheelbase further back towards the pedals because I ran out of adjustment space (the wheel was too close to my chest). If you are interested I can post some pics of it for you first.
 
I have this cockpit too, its my old one now, but I am very familiar with it. What exactly is the issue with the wheel deck, I cant tell from the pictures what the problem is, other than seeing a few scratches and maybe the screws are loose? I have an adapter plate I made for mine that has Thrustmater and FANATEC hole patterns in it. I will give it to you for free if you want it, just pay for the shipping and its yours. I made it out of Delrin plastic to shift my wheelbase further back towards the pedals because I ran out of adjustment space (the wheel was too close to my chest). If you are interested I can post some pics of it for you first.
Thanks.
I already went out to buy some metal filler.
If that doesn't work, I'll let you know.
The issue I have is that the screw base has shifted a bit on the right side so I notice the wheel wiggling quite a bit.
It's distracting and annoying.
20200807_162245.gif
 
Thanks.
I already went out to buy some metal filler.
If that doesn't work, I'll let you know.
The issue I have is that the screw base has shifted a bit on the right side so I notice the wheel wiggling quite a bit.
It's distracting and annoying.
View attachment 947474
Those are probably conical headed screws that you should just be able to tighten down to eliminate the issue, have you tried that yet? In my opinion, any filler or JB weld type stuff will just deform once you use it again so I highly doubt that will work to be honest.

I just pulled out my old wheel deck from My OpenWheeler II cockpit and it is slightly different from yours. Mine has two welded bosses on the underside that mounts it to the post, not 4 screws. Is your the first-generation version? if tightening the bolts doesn't work, remove them and buy some button head cap screws and tightne them down really tight, then take my adapter plate and drill some relief holes to accept the bolt heads sticking up and that should work.
 

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I just pulled out my old wheel deck from My OpenWheeler II cockpit and it is slightly different from yours. Mine has two welded bosses on the underside that mounts it to the post, not 4 screws. Is your the first-generation version? if tightening the bolts doesn't work, remove them and buy some button head cap screws and tightne them down really tight, then take my adapter plate and drill some relief holes to accept the bolt heads sticking up and that should work.
Mine is supposedly gen 2.
Do you know what kind of tool can I use to tighten them?
 
Mine is supposedly gen 2.
Do you know what kind of tool can I use to tighten them?
Those are hex (Allen) head screws, My guess is 3mm or 3.5mm, but my eyes may be off a bit. Get a set of Allen keys and pick the one that fits. I do know that my OpenWheeler has metric hardware, make sure you grab the metric set!

btw, it looks like the hex drive feature of the bottom left screw of your first pic has been dented in a bit so you may need to tap the hex wrench into that one before trying to tighten it. Did you try to hammer the screw down or something? The last thing you want is to strip the screw heads so be careful!!!
 
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btw, it looks like the hex drive feature of the bottom left screw of your first pic has been dented in a bit so you may need to tap the hex wrench into that one before trying to tighten it. Did you try to hammer the screw down or something? The last thing you want is to strip the screw heads so be careful!!!
I haven't touched those screws at all.
Only tightened the tilting angle.
Feels weird that all of a sudden, I started feeling that wiggling.
When I am playing, I feel the wheel is tilted towards the right side, so I have to move it to the left.
 
I haven't touched those screws at all.
Only tightened the tilting angle.
Feels weird that all of a sudden, I started feeling that wiggling.
When I am playing, I feel the wheel is tilted towards the right side, so I have to move it to the left.
I'm not surprised looking at that design, its probably why they changed it to a welded construction like my version. Thats a lot of stress on those 4 little screws concentrated in a tiny area like that. Just tightening them will fix the problem as long as they can be tightened down more. You may need to tighten them again from time to time moving forward too.
 
I'm not surprised looking at that design, its probably why they changed it to a welded construction like my version. Thats a lot of stress on those 4 little screws concentrated in a tiny area like that. Just tightening them will fix the problem as long as they can be tightened down more. You may need to tighten them again from time to time moving forward too.
But I got mine in 2018 so mine is newer.
I do agree it is bad design.
 
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Good news.
Turns out, I had to re-torque the hexagon screws and tighten the plate.
Looks like I have to do this once in a while.
I do agree it's bad design though.
There should be no movable parts joining the steering column to the steering plate unless there is more than one point of tension.
Otherwise this happens.
 
Good news.
Turns out, I had to re-torque the hexagon screws and tighten the plate.
Looks like I have to do this once in a while.
I do agree it's bad design though.
There should be no movable parts joining the steering column to the steering plate unless there is more than one point of tension.
Otherwise this happens.
Glad it worked out for you. How was my aim not he hex size btw? Was it 3mm or 3.5mm? happy racing...cheers
 
Btw, I am starting to feel several design flaws with this Openwheeler set-up.
It doesn't resist a lot of force feedback.
The main steering column is starting to twist to the left side.
I have to fully torque the dials so it maintains itself straight.
This set-up should've greatly benefited from a dual column set-up instead of one.
Giving this thing any sort of hard steering destroys the whole playseat.
 
Btw, I am starting to feel several design flaws with this Openwheeler set-up.
It doesn't resist a lot of force feedback.
The main steering column is starting to twist to the left side.
I have to fully torque the dials so it maintains itself straight.
This set-up should've greatly benefited from a dual column set-up instead of one.
Giving this thing any sort of hard steering destroys the whole playseat.
This is the very reason I had to get rid of mine after switching to my DD1. But for the price, its a decent rig for entry into sim-racing, its simple, has a wide adjustment range and stores easy, but very flimsy indeed. Unfortunately, to get into an 80/20 style rig, it costs much more. I paid nearly $600 for my Sim-Lab GT1-EVO cockpit and it didn't even come with a seat!, but it is amazingly rigid and will never need replacing, even if I add a motion platform later on. This cockpit is the best value for money on the market IMO. I picked up a cheap reclining, sliding racing seat from CARiD for like $140 to complete the build. This seat is WAY better than the one that comes with the OpenWheeler too. I looked into getting another seat from them and they wanted like $250 for that cheap-ass thing!
 

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This is the very reason I had to get rid of mine after switching to my DD1. But for the price, its a decent rig for entry into sim-racing, its simple, has a wide adjustment range and stores easy, but very flimsy indeed. Unfortunately, to get into an 80/20 style rig, it costs much more. I paid nearly $600 for my Sim-Lab GT1-EVO cockpit and it didn't even come with a seat!, but it is amazingly rigid and will never need replacing, even if I add a motion platform later on. This cockpit is the best value for money on the market IMO. I picked up a cheap reclining, sliding racing seat from CARiD for like $140 to complete the build. This seat is WAY better than the one that comes with the OpenWheeler too. I looked into getting another seat from them and they wanted like $250 for that cheap-ass thing!
Can I use the same seat from Openwheeler?
It's nice.
 
Virtually any seat fits the Sim-Lab GT1 EVO, the 80/20 profile framing is very versatile. You won't even need any special brackets or anything.
I think I'll break the bank this holiday and get a proper playseat and the Fanatec CSL elite with clubsport pedals that I have been eyeballing for a while.
 
I think I'll break the bank this holiday and get a proper playseat and the Fanatec CSL elite with clubsport pedals that I have been eyeballing for a while.
If you can swing it, get the sim lab GT1-EVO, you won't regret it! And look into used stuff too, that's how I got my early stuff and saved a lot of $$
 
If you can swing it, get the sim lab GT1-EVO, you won't regret it! And look into used stuff too, that's how I got my early stuff and saved a lot of $$

Where's the best place to find used rigs? I'm looking at a GT1-EVO right now for my new rig.

This is the very reason I had to get rid of mine after switching to my DD1. But for the price, its a decent rig for entry into sim-racing, its simple, has a wide adjustment range and stores easy, but very flimsy indeed. Unfortunately, to get into an 80/20 style rig, it costs much more. I paid nearly $600 for my Sim-Lab GT1-EVO cockpit and it didn't even come with a seat!, but it is amazingly rigid and will never need replacing, even if I add a motion platform later on. This cockpit is the best value for money on the market IMO. I picked up a cheap reclining, sliding racing seat from CARiD for like $140 to complete the build. This seat is WAY better than the one that comes with the OpenWheeler too. I looked into getting another seat from them and they wanted like $250 for that cheap-ass thing!

Nice set up!

I've got a VW Jetta seat that I'd like to put onto a GT1-EVO that I hope to order soon. Did you need additional hardware to connect it to the lower frames?
 
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Nice set up!

I've got a VW Jetta seat that I'd like to put onto a GT1-EVO that I hope to order soon. Did you need additional hardware to connect it to the lower frames?
No, the GT1-EVO comes with the 8020 cross members for the seat mounting and the seat comes with the slider kit so it was super easy to mount.

Where's the best place to find used rigs? I'm looking at a GT1-EVO right now for my new rig.
I would assume there won't be many used GT1-EVO cockpits available since it's a fairly new release, plus it's damn good, so I would think most people wouldn't have many reasons to get rid of it, apart from quitting sim racing altogether. But good luck!
 
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No, the GT1-EVO comes with the 8020 cross members for the seat mounting and the seat comes with the slider kit so it was super easy to mount.


I would assume there won't be many used GT1-EVO cockpits available since it's a fairly new release, plus it's damn good, so I would think most people wouldn't have many reasons to get rid of it, apart from quitting sim racing altogether. But good luck!

Right. Thanks for your help.

I looked at about 5 different rigs, but kept coming back to the GT1-EVO which interestingly enough was my first choice. But I did a lot of research. And you're right - for the price/performance, nothing comes close.

Sim-Lab is have a discount during November - no-brainer for sure.
 
Good news.
Turns out, I had to re-torque the hexagon screws and tighten the plate.
Looks like I have to do this once in a while.
I do agree it's bad design though.
There should be no movable parts joining the steering column to the steering plate unless there is more than one point of tension.
Otherwise this happens.
Remove the bolts and apply some threadlocker to the threads and you should not have to re-torque them again. I would use a removable threadlocker like Loctite blue rather than red which is almost permanent.
 
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