Fitting tall guys in Cab 11/12's

[Tony Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Bob Carriere

Now the question of raising the steering wheel is interesting but from my rough measurements the most you would gain is one inch maybe 30mm at which point unsufficient clearance with the windsheild/windscreen would mean squeezing your knuckles.

This is another reason I'd prefer to lengthen the steering column rather than raise it, or perhaps a combination of both mods to achieve the ideal position. I see no great difficulty in lengthening the steering column, and 40mm would be sufficient to replicate Cab 13 dX (distance from clutch pedal to bottom of steering wheel) which is the critical dimension for tall drivers.

However there may be an easier solution we haven't considered - swing the steering column to the right. Cab 11/12 steering column runs parallel to the chassis rail (looking from directly above) whereas the Cab 13 steering column is skewed outwards. This provides more room for your left leg to escape from under the steering wheel when operating the clutch. A quick check on my own Cab 12 suggests moving the steering column bracket 20mm to the right would move the steering wheel far enough away from the handbrake lever to allow your left leg to pass between comfortably. Naturally this would encroach upon your right leg movement, however there's plenty of spare room between the steering wheel and the door.

It's worth noting too that the steering wheel on the Cab 12 is not in line with the seat - it's offset to the left by approx 50mm. In other words it's not centrally between your legs when you're driving. That means swinging the steering column to the right would centralize the steering wheel with the seat - as is the case on the Cab 13.