Paraletic (how to make a hand control steering wheel)

[revolter]

if U Find U Find A Way To Switch To Hand Controls On A Redline Please Pass On The Information I Am Also A Paraplegic And Have Just Bought A Revolt And Could Really Use The Information I Am Currently Trying To Make The Controls Out Of My Car Hand Controls I Will Let All No How It Works Out.

[Gene]

Props to Stress. You are one hell of a person in my book.

Thanks for showing us what it takes for you to be in this sport. More importantly, thanks for showing other paras that it can be done.

Someone should build and sell a kit. Maybe we can get the right people hooked up here to make that happen. Who has the knowldge and skills to make this happen?

[magnum4598]

keiser i say for brakes do what top fuel does a hand lever mounted to the master cylinder
so you pull the brakes with your hand mount the clutch to that same handle
use a butter fly handle to shift with or evan better look at racing go carts shifter handles it looks somthing like a cars automatic columb shift the throttle could be operated by you thumb with a push lever control off of a four wheeler

[furtelli]

Hey Stress have you had the buggy out yet?

[stress]

cmooreoffroad.com they build there own buggy and they also work on other kinds of buggies also. If someone needs help modify the steering system to mount a different kind of steering wheel like a Pilot steering wheel they may be able to help . They were very open to the changes I needed made to my buggy. I would think the mounting of the Pilot steering wheel to the Revolt would look something like the bracket that bolts to my steering wheel (the the earlier post I have showing how my steering wheel mounted).
If the hand controls are mounted the the steering wheel keep in mind you need a open area for the the control cables to sweep through as the steering wheel turns.

For the Revolt you could mount a Pilot steering wheel . Some salvage places that have Pilot steering wheels are tntdealz@hotmail.com ,scvtelecom@sbcglobal.net and odyssey salvage 913-856-6639. You could run the brake line from the Pilot master cylinder to a slave cylinder, that push on the Revolts foot pedal. The Chassis Shop The Chassis Shop sells slave cylinders the (pull style part # 300-b) and the ( push style part part # 305-b). You would have to build a mount the hold the slave cylinder.
The slave cylinder would push on the Revolt foot pedal when the Pilot master cylinder brake level is pulled in. I have not tried this method ,but it may be way to use the Revolt brake system. When the brake levers and thumb throttle are on the steering wheel once the steering is turned more than 90 deg from the straight position you will not be able to keep you hands on the brake levers and thumb throttle. So if the controls are on the steering wheel you need the steering to go to full lock in 90 deg or less. A steering quicker can do this, but can cause kick back problems, power steering can stop kickback . I like the Pilot steering wheel because I can both hands on the steering wheel at all times , I feel this gives me good control at racing speeds. The hand controls used for street car work OK for driving around town, but I never felt I have good enough control to drive at racing speeds with those types of controls in a street car.

[stress]

I took my buggy out last week the brakes worked OK, but I had problems with with some spacers in my gearbox that yielded and caused vibration problems on my rear axles. My gearbox had the the wrong diameter spacers in it , I found the problem and ordered the right parts . So I will be down for a couple of weeks fixing this. I only got about 15 min of ride time in and had to stop because the vibration.

[JimmieD]

I think this is on topic, sorta: 44 years ago I worked in a speed shop and a friend had just had a car built for him. He had no arms, but had hands very near his shoulders. With a govt grant the car was designed & built by UC Davis Engineering Dept & other concerns as I remember. All controls were contained in a single large foot pedal, forward was accelerator, rearward reduced acceleration or applied brakes, pivoting pedal left or right controlled power steering.

Car was a 1964 Chevelle, 283 2bbl w/ Powerglide. He & the car were pretty famous in the medical & engineering community because this had never been attempted before. After it was built we got involved and as I recall, dimly: pulled the engine, shaved the heads, bored .030 over, popup pistons, full race cam, 2 AFB 4bbls, headers into fat dual exhaust, positraction rear, shift kit in the tranny, heavy duty shocks, fat meats in the rear.

He was the terror of the local dragstrip and had lots of fun. The govt & university guys called foul but nothing they could do, the car was his

So, GO FOR IT, Guys & Gals!!! Life is meant to be LIVED!

[stress]

I have my brakes working to where I am happy now. My buggy weighs about 900 lbs and has about 120 hp. If my buggy was bigger I think I would need more brake capability. In the following entrees I will give the details of my set up to help others judge if something like this will work for them. The 90 degree to full lock steering works well, there is no kick back with the power steering , I like it.

[stress]

On my front brakes I ended up using a 9 inch brake disks. For calipers I used Wilwood Dynapro Single billet calipers part number 120-9687. The caliper has two 1.75 Dia pistons.

[stress]

For the rear brake I am using a 11 inch brake disk. The caliper is the Wilwood Forged Billet Dynalite part number 120-6818. The caliper has four 1.75 dia pistons.