Can you adjust steering wheel height?

Margo Ledbetter · Jul 13, 2020

Hi folks, well my dream car has just rolled off the back of a trailer...its a 1982 series 3 88, so I apologise now for what will probably be a string of "what's this" questions.
I do have the owners handbook and the Haynes manual, so hopefully most will be answered in that, though there do appear to be a few knobs and switches not mentioned.
My first pressing question though is...is it possible to adjust the steering wheel height? I'm not huge, only 5'8", but in its present position the wheel is hard against my left thigh. Looking at the steering column it *looks* as though it has been adjusted downwards; there's a bit of a gap and a rub mark on part of the black vinyl as though the collar of the steering column surround had been against it. I hope I'm not being thick as I've not found anything in the Haynes manual about any adjustment at all.
Thnaks folks
Anne

Madman2Swords · Jul 13, 2020

Margo Ledbetter said:
Hi folks, well my dream car has just rolled off the back of a trailer...its a 1982 series 3 88, so I apologise now for what will probably be a string of "what's this" questions.
I do have the owners handbook and the Haynes manual, so hopefully most will be answered in that, though there do appear to be a few knobs and switches not mentioned.
My first pressing question though is...is it possible to adjust the steering wheel height? I'm not huge, only 5'8", but in its present position the wheel is hard against my left thigh. Looking at the steering column it *looks* as though it has been adjusted downwards; there's a bit of a gap and a rub mark on part of the black vinyl as though the collar of the steering column surround had been against it. I hope I'm not being thick as I've not found anything in the Haynes manual about any adjustment at all.
Thnaks folks
Anne

Hello Margo
If you don't get any joy from any of the experts on here, I suggest you open up YouTube and type your specific question in the search box including the make and model info etc, you'd be surprised at the amount of invaluable knowledge there is on YouTube, anyway good luck.

marjon · Jul 13, 2020

You may find a better manual in here https://www.landroverweb.com/landrover/pdf-land-rover-manuals-part-catalogue/

To answer your Q I do t think so unless a PO has done something.

Enjoy it

J

cornish rattler · Jul 13, 2020

I don't think you can as everything is bolted in place meaning the steering box is bolted to the bulkhead support bracket and is not adjustable, the bracketery where the steering column goes through the bulkhead looks adjustable but think it's just to line the holes up as not all bulkheads are the same so allow a few thou to fit bolts, then the top bracket where the column bolts to the dash is not adjustable neither so the only way is to either fit a smaller steering wheel or change the seats for early Defender seats as the seats are adjustable and butt upto the rear bulkhead better giving you slightly more leg room, hope this helps

Rodeo Joe · Jul 13, 2020

How can the steering wheel be against your leg, has it had a ships wheel conversion?

tottot · Jul 13, 2020

Does it have seat's from a car? lack of leg space is common when this mod is done.

rob1miles · Jul 13, 2020

We need a photo, it does sound like something is not right

dag019 · Jul 13, 2020

It Definitly does not sound like it has the correct (original seats) if so refitting them is likely to solve the problem. Also you do not Need to fit defender seats to get adjustable fore/aft. Late model series frames had this as well.

Speckydude · Jul 13, 2020

Margo Ledbetter said:
Hi folks, well my dream car has just rolled off the back of a trailer...its a 1982 series 3 88, so I apologise now for what will probably be a string of "what's this" questions.
I do have the owners handbook and the Haynes manual, so hopefully most will be answered in that, though there do appear to be a few knobs and switches not mentioned.
My first pressing question though is...is it possible to adjust the steering wheel height? I'm not huge, only 5'8", but in its present position the wheel is hard against my left thigh. Looking at the steering column it *looks* as though it has been adjusted downwards; there's a bit of a gap and a rub mark on part of the black vinyl as though the collar of the steering column surround had been against it. I hope I'm not being thick as I've not found anything in the Haynes manual about any adjustment at all.
Thnaks folks
Anne

Be wary of all the stuff that the Previous Owner will have changed/bodged/ fiddled with, cause some of that can hurt you.

Speckydude · Jul 13, 2020

Madman2Swords said:
Hello Margo
If you don't get any joy from any of the experts on here, I suggest you open up YouTube and type your specific question in the search box including the make and model info etc, you'd be surprised at the amount of invaluable knowledge there is on YouTube, anyway good luck.

The advice from Series owners is usually sound, with the odd wind-up or teaser.

Margo Ledbetter · Jul 13, 2020

Thanks for the replies folks. Okay, to stop the panic about the steering wheel...I should have said that I had added a cushion (not a terribly big one) as without it the clutch pedal feels very high indeed. Without the cushion the steering wheel is clear of my legs, but does still feel quite low. The photo attached may help describe what I was trying to say; it looks as though the gap above was where the steering wheel fitted against, but knowing now that the wheel is essentially fixed via the shaft downwards I'm guessing its just general wear and age-related movement of the fascia. It's been a while since I've had a manual gearbox so having my left knee permanently coming up towards my chin is going to take a bit of getting used to!
At the moment the seat adjustment is right the way back on the rearmost notch on the slider thing, and I'm not sure I could persuade it much further as the back is now right up against the internal divider.
I'm slowly sussing out all the levers and switches, I'm getting the strong impression that various instruments could be fitted wherever the owner wanted them?
Has anyone any ideas what the orange switch in the additional photo is? I have tried flicking it up and down, but so far haven't noticed anything bursting into life. The metal switch top left is the rear windscreen wiper and the black switch underneath it is the rear screenwash. The hazard knob reassuring started the hazards and I'm expecting the one next to it to be for fogs.
So far I've got the front wipers to work but haven't managed to coax any screenwash out.
It came with an impressive folder of past paperwork, services, parts, MOT's etc, one of the most interesting being that in 2001 a power steering unit was removed after being declared FUBAR. I don't want to infuriate the purists....but do people have thoughts on the various power steering units that can be fitted?

kermit_rr · Jul 13, 2020

I wasn't aware the series 3 had any seat adjustment, has it been replaced with something else?

Fatrover · Jul 13, 2020

Eh? Somethin strange here, I’m 6’4 and the wheels not causing my meaty legs any problems. In a standard Series theres no seat adjustment someone must ave put something in....my missus is 5’7 and doesnt have any problems with the wheel either...

dag019 · Jul 13, 2020

Margo Ledbetter said:
I'm slowly sussing out all the levers and switches, I'm getting the strong impression that various instruments could be fitted wherever the owner wanted them?
Has anyone any ideas what the orange switch in the additional photo is? I have tried flicking it up and down, but so far haven't noticed anything bursting into life. The metal switch top left is the rear windscreen wiper and the black switch underneath it is the rear screenwash. The hazard knob reassuring started the hazards and I'm expecting the one next to it to be for fogs.
So far I've got the front wipers to work but haven't managed to coax any screenwash out.

The upper three toggle switches in your centre dash picture are not standard and could be any manner of things added by the previous owner sereis did not have rear wash wipe.

lynall · Jul 13, 2020

Iirc s2 as an option had deluxe seat with for and aft adjustement, so by the time the S3 same along it might have been std fit?
Either way if you are slighty chunky/long legged there aint a lot of room in the cabin.

Silly litle things can help, like remove the seat back buffers.
The pedal heights should be adjustable.

dag019 · Jul 13, 2020

Margo Ledbetter said:
I should have said that I had added a cushion (not a terribly big one) as without it the clutch pedal feels very high indeed

There is an amount of adjustment on the clutch so it may be that it has been incorrectly setup and should not be that high, however it is also possible that is normal and especially as you say you have not driven a manual for a while (especially a series) you will just get used to it.

dag019 · Jul 13, 2020

lynall said:
Iirc s2 as an option had deluxe seat with for and aft adjustement, so by the time the S3 same along it might have been std fit?
Either way if you are slighty chunky/long legged there aint a lot of room in the cabin.

Silly litle things can help, like remove the seat back buffers.
The pedal heights should be adjustable.

There were still na option if you had the deluxe seats on a sereis three. I have adjustment on both drivers and passengers on mine but it was one of the last off the line at '82

Rodeo Joe · Jul 13, 2020

Margo Ledbetter said:
; it looks as though the gap above was where the steering wheel fitted against

There will be a small bit of movement if you loosen all the fixings on the steering box and the bracket that holds the shaft through the bulkhead, it might be enough to fill that gap.......on mine though the gaps filled with a bit of foam rubber.

steve2286w · Jul 13, 2020

Here’s a few pics of mine , inc bracket rodeo joe mentions, the Dash gap in mine is about a finger Width, does the steering wheel move up and down , does the plastic cover move up and down , the pedals are about the same height although the pic doesn’t show it well

tottot · Jul 13, 2020

The adjustable back and fore seat base is normally found on LWB models where it has somewhere to go.

Can you adjust steering wheel height?

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