Steering wheel - is "tight" tight enough?

[coW52Dodge]

Now that I've restored my steering wheel, should my thinking be "Since it was a bear to remove, it should be really difficult to put back?".

How tight should that nut be? It is pretty tight right now, with the threads of the column being just proud of the nut. I tightened it with a breaker bar but am reluctant to break out the impact gun.

Is there a torque spec or is that good enough?

Also, the nut is a castle nut but I don't see any holes in the column.

I forgot to inspect the thing when the wheel was off but are there holes further down?

Don't want any surprises, as you can imagine..

[HanksB3B]

Unless you are filming a remake of the Three Stooges. The Dodge Truck Manual Calls for the Steering Wheel Nut to be Torqued to 35-40 ft lbs.

I have to take mine off today, hope it's a pussy cat and not a Bear. Any pictures and a description of how you restored your wheel would be nice.

Thanks,

Hank

[Young Ed]

Are you sure its supposed to be a castle nut? The 39-47 trucks have a special nut thats thinner to make room for the horn wiring etc

[coW52Dodge]

Unless you are filming a remake of the Three Stooges. The Dodge Truck Manual Calls for the Steering Wheel Nut to be Torqued to 35-40 ft lbs.

I have to take mine off today, hope it's a pussy cat and not a Bear. Any pictures and a description of how you restored your wheel would be nice.

Thanks,

Hank

Thanks. I'll redo it.

Mine took a puller and a split bearing separator because it did not like to come off. The large bearing separator that HarborFreight sells fits very well behind the wheel and you catch the puller on the edges of it, pushing into the shaft.

Even that took a bit of cranking on the nut but it eventually came off with a loud 'POP!'.

I used the steering wheel kit Eastwood sells because this was a first for me and it came with instructions. If you like, I could scan the booklet in and email it to you. It isn't truly invaluable but informative.

The kit comes with two cans of two component epoxi you can buy at home depot or wallmart. Even with a lot of cracks, you won't need too much of it. Two cans is a lot, imo. It also comes with a 'adhesive promotor' - KEM sells one that works well too.

You file or grind all the cracks into a V-groove and fill it, making sure it stands a little proud. My expoxy took a week to dry to where it could be sanded. You then sand them down and refill where need be.

I used four thin coats of KEM flat black paint and eight coats of 'low luster' clear, also by KEM.

I goofed a little, sanding a little much where it now has flat spots, but it looks good from two feet. The steering wheel and the new wood bed probably look the best on my truck at this point, so that's good enough for me.

It definitely is not difficult to do. I'll post some pictures later, after I get my new hornring polished up.

[coW52Dodge]

Are you sure its supposed to be a castle nut? The 39-47 trucks have a special nut thats thinner to make room for the horn wiring etc

It looks like a castle nut. I'll look again.

[HanksB3B]

Or newly found old horn ring. I don't have one and I hardly see any trucks that do. The instructions would be nice to see. A week seems like 6 days too long to cure. Thanks for the Harbor Freight info is there a SKU or product description to make sure I end up with the correct tool ?

Thanks,

Hank

[coW52Dodge]

Or newly found old horn ring. I don't have one and I hardly see any trucks that do. The instructions would be nice to see. A week seems like 6 days too long to cure. Thanks for the Harbor Freight info is there a SKU or product description to make sure I end up with the correct tool ?

Thanks,

Hank

This is the bearing separator I used.

My puller is a two jaw one but would imagine this one may even work better, providing it opens wide enough.

[coW52Dodge]

Here's my wheel, back where it belongs, along with the new horn ring:

After this picture was taken, I removed the ring again - after I put it on, it became clear that the horn button needs to be resprayed and cleared as well. It looks odd, all dull and stuff.