Steering Wheel Removal Help Needed

[Guest philedmonds]

does anyone have any suggestions on what tool to use to pull the steering wheel on my '48 B1FA? None of pullers will work and i have no idea where to get the one that is supposed to be used. Any information will be appreciated. Thanks.

[grey beard]

Phil,

Getting these wheels off is sometimes nearly impossible. It's too embarrasing to ask guys to admit how many good wheels were ruined in attempts at removal.

Here's the ONLY fail-safe way I know of to remove these things, and once done, will always work in the future. The hub is quite meaty, and there's lots of room to do this.

Drill three 5/16-inch holes and tap to 3/8-inch national coarse thread. Use any universal puller or a regular steering wheel puller with three grade 8 bolts threaded into your new holes. Pull it tight, and hit the puller a sharp blow with a BFH, then retighten and repeat till it comes loose. You'll never have trouble pulling that wheel again, once the holes are in place. Later models came with the holes pre drilled and tapped. Go figure why they omitted this on our trucks. LOL:)

[Jim Dohr]

I have a 53. Any idea on how to remove the ring?

[Guest philedmonds]

Thanks so much for the advice. I'll do it later today. This is a great forum with great responses! I'll try to add what little I know....

[Guest Dave Claussen]

Phil, This is how I got mine off. I used a bearing splitter that I borrowed from work but you can also borrow one from Auto Zone and maybe other car part places(NAPA?) I took a flat piece of steel and drilled 2 holes out on the ends that lined up with the tapped holes in the splitter and drilled and tapped a big hole in the center to put pressure on the center of the wheel spline. Then I just started tightening the center bolt(not real tight!) and then a few well placed taps with a rubber dead blow hammer and she came right off. I only tapped near the center of the wheel under the splitter. The piece of material was about 1/2" thick and about 1 1/2" wide and probably 7" or 8" long. I think the center bolt was a 5/8-11 but a 1/2-13 would probably do the trick as well.

I have a couple more pictures if you would like to see those as well but they all show about the same thing. Hope this gives you some ideas.

[grey beard]

Jim,

To remove your horn ring, push in and turn it counter clockwise. It should move about 3/4-inch and pop out. LOL

[Guest philedmonds]

I tried the drilling, tapping and pulling method and stripped the threads I tapped! I finally bought a "large" bearing separator from Harbor Freight Tools ($20) and made a bar like is in the photo. It worked perfectly! Thanks for the advice and help.

[Jim Gaspard]

Cool! Phil, I'm one of those guys who has tried almost everything so far. I don't have a drill press sufficient to build the bar. I would be willing to rent your device, or buy it and make it available for other forum members.

Jim in Dallas

[Guest Dave Claussen]

Phil, Glad it worked out. My theory is that most of the steering wheels have been on since day one and they are probably put on with a fair amount of force at the factory. That combined with the time span allowing for some corrosion to set in and you have a very difficult job getting it off without some sort of device that puts the pressure in just the right spot. Removal does not appear to have been a top priority during the design phase. Just my 2 1/2 cents worth.

[Guest philedmonds]

Jim in Dallas,

I'll be glad to send (give) you the bar I made. It isn't pretty, but it works. You may need different grade 8 bolts depending upon the bearing separator you have. If I need it again, I'll just make another one! Please send me your address and I'll get it out in the next few days. I appreciate the information and help I get on this site, so I am happy to return a small favor. I don't want any money for this or postage.

Phil

[Jim Gaspard]

Sent you an e-mail. Thanks.

[Jim Gaspard]

Thanks to Dave Claussen for the photo in this string.. a posted picture is worth a thousand words. Thanks to Phil Edmonds for sending me his fabricated bar and bolts, postage paid. I went to Harbor freight in Dallas Saturday, bought the bearing separator and had the steering wheel off in an hour with a few turns of the center bolt and taps under the hub of the wheel. I've tried every thing for the last six months. Thanks to Dave and Phil, I'm off to the next project.

I will be happy to forward the complete steering-removal jig to the next Pilothouse owner who needs it, as long as they pass it along to the next guy. Drop me an e-mail

Jim in Dallas

[Guest P15-D24]

Copying thread to the Technical Archives forum.

[Guest Dave Claussen]

Jim, Glad you were able to get your wheel removed. Hope someone else can benefit from our solution to this problem. And thanks to Phil for sharing his part of the solution too. This is what the forum is really about, helping each other out whenever we can.