Steering Wheel Removal

[skippy24]

Hello, First post here. I have come in to possession of a'59 stepside with the column shifter. One of the first things I want to do is clean up all of the dust and grime out of the turn signal assembly to make it functional. I am having the hardest time removing the steering wheel. I have tried a steering wheel puller and brute force with no luck. The only thing I accomplished was breaking a puller bolt and a lot of cursing.What is the secret to removing these darned things?

[bobinbc]

First of all

You will find lots of helpful people here. Also you will find this little club like pictures! LOL

When I have a stubborn steering wheel I will remove the nut, apply some tension on the puller and then give the center bolt a couple of good raps with a hammer. Don't think I've had one that didn't come loose that way...

Good luck, I'm sure someone smarter than me will chime in any second

[Dan in Pasadena]

I used THIS to get mine off.

http://www.harborfreight.com/steerin...set-68982.html

Popped right off, don't know what your problem could be

[dubie]

exactly what Bob said. Get the puller so it has some tension on it and rap the head of the center bolt with a hammer a couple times. A little WD-40 shot down the splines will help break it free as well.

[skippy24]

Thanks for the replies. I've tried soaking it with PB Blaster down the splines, using a steering wheel puller, the brute force method. I'll try to whack the puller with a hammer and let you know the results.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Your description makes me wonder if you have the wrong wheel in there that someone beat into place?

Picture?
Posted via Mobile Device

[_Ogre]

probably a stock wheel that's never been off, bobinbc has the right method.
a little pressure from your knees pushing up helps too

the puller is the correct way
but i have gotten them off by loosening the nut, applying knee pressure and smacking the nut with a hammer
very easy to damage the threads on the shaft this way
use the puller

[_Ogre]

oh and...

[mr48chev]

As Ogre said, apply knee pressure to the back side of the wheel if you use a hammer. Scrunch down in the seat so you can get your knees up behind the wheel and your shins up against the bottom edge of the dash to push back on the wheel and use a hammer and something for a punch (old king pin works great) and give it a hard solid rap.
That should pop it off. I'd much rather use a steering wheel puller though.

NOTE: you cannot do that on a later model collapsible column or you end up collapsing the shaft and column most of the time. This only works on the old rigs with the solid shaft going all the way through.

You did take the nut off?

[Russell Ashley]

I don't think anyone has mentioned this so far, but only loosen the nut until it's about even with the top of the threads. Don't remove it completely or you stand the chance of flattening the top of the shaft and you won't be able to get the nut back on. I always clear the threads in the steering wheel with a tap so that the puller bolts can go in as deep as possible.
Also, I'm not a big fan of beating on the top of the shaft. If you try this don't use a sledge hammer. Use a ball peen hammer and hit the top of the puller squarely with a quick sharp blow. You can damage the bearings in the steering box if you get too aggressive.