Let's hear your steering wheel removal stories!

[The Tuul Crib 7,337]

So I've been soaking the steering wheel for the past two weeks and pounding on it and pounding on it with no progress. So today I started to get a little more aggressive and drill several holes in the end of the shaft and ended up cutting the shaft on the other end !  I saved the wheel!! The steering wheel shaft is only an inch and a half shorter but I can weld a new piece on the end of it.

[Lee1977 6,673]

I cheated never got it off. I sawed the shaft into added a section and raised the wheel 3 more inches. 

 

[SylvanLakeWH 25,609]

Two broken drill bits. 

 

Several hours of grinding, drilling, grinding, drilling...small bit to larger to larger...big whacks on punch with a hammer...repeat...

 

Numerous rounds of pb blaster, wd 40, unidentifiable “penetrating oil”, some torching, some adult beverages, some :($&@“!?$&bhfgfhfhhhhcffvhdu@&$@&$ words, some more adult beverages...and tada!!!

 

It came off...

 

More adult beverages...

 

New one went on in about 30 seconds...!

 

 

[Ed Kennell 38,288]

If the reason for removing the wheel is to replace  the bushing, I cut the shafts between the the bushing and the fan gear  then reconnect it with a shaft connector sleeve.

[Achto 27,624]

Worst one that I had, SO FAR. I had to drill the roll pin out, BTW if your not using a carbide bit to do this your wasting your time & just wrecking drill bits. Then lube, hammer, etc, until I finally went to a friends shop and used his press to push the two a part.

[SylvanLakeWH 25,609]

5 minutes ago, Achto said:

 BTW if your not using a carbide bit to do this your wasting your time & just wrecking drill bits. 

 

 

Uhm, don’t ask why I now know that...

 

Edited January 28, 2020 by SylvanLakeWH

[The Tuul Crib 7,337]

Well l broke 3 bits , hit my hand several 

times! Had a few words ahhh  little loud 

wife was concerned..  slam dunk

SAVED !!!  Yes!! 

Edited January 28, 2020 by The Tool Crib

[pfrederi 17,741]

If they are really bad pull the whole unit with instrument panel. Then you can clamp it a vice with blocking under it and drive out the roll pin (use a real roll pin pin punch and soaking with your favorite bug juice). Never had to drill one.,.  Then with emery cloth clean up the shaft below the steering wheel.  Now stand it up in the vice with the gear end of the shaft against the vice throat.  climb up on a step stool and use an deep well impact socket the clears the shaft put in on an wail away with a sledge hammer the steering wheel will eventually slide down the shaft.  then clean up the end and pull it back off.

[briankd 817]

i beet and beet on roll pin won't move didn't want to destroy it was wanting it off to paint tractor but just used masking tape and taped it all up 

[WHX?? 48,839]

Did you not see my thread Cribs on modified HF press to get the whole dash in it? . Half the battle here like Dan said is getting the pin out. Particularly on the soft touch wheels. Difficult steering wheel removal is a thing of the past in my shop... on to hubs and hitch pins! 

[The Tuul Crib 7,337]

19 minutes ago, WHX24 said:

Did you not see my thread Cribs on modified HF press to get the whole dash in it? . Half the battle here like Dan said is getting the pin out. Particularly on the soft touch wheels. Difficult steering wheel removal is a thing of the past in my shop... on to hubs and hitch pins! 

Yes I did see this thread and I do remember. Kind of curious what did it end up costing you? I just picked up a 12 ton jack from one of these Prevost buses. 
they come with every bus that we build and they just pitch em . I could've used it on the steering wheel but maybe next time I'll have it set up! 

[WHX?? 48,839]

The press was heck I don't even remember but way less than 200 with coupon in hand....20 ton bottle  jack...... the mod not a dang thing. Way best the thing I got for my shop in years considering wheels, hubs, pins, broaching, bearings.... don't know how I got along without it.... oh yeah I do pounding on stuff with Paul's BFH and ruining it somemore....

[SylvanLakeWH 25,609]

16 hours ago, The Tool Crib said:

they come with every bus that we build and they just pitch em .

 

 

That is wrong on so so many levels...glad you snagged one but what a waste... maybe a  market idea for you...

[tom2p 2,394]

21 hours ago, Lee1977 said:

I cheated never got it off. I sawed the shaft into added a section and raised the wheel 3 more inches. 

 

I also cheated ... years and years ago - back in the 70's when I was a kid 

 

could not remove the steering wheel so I could remove the hood - so I cut the hood 

 

look closely and can see where hood was cut - instead of a hole there is now a slot (that extends to the bottom portion of the hood below the opening for the steering wheel column/shaft)

 

 

Edited January 28, 2020 by tom2p

[squonk 41,169]

Wish I had pics. The roll pin would not budge. I took a small HF bearing separator behind the wheel, A large separator behind the little one. A gear puller that weighs over 25 lbs. from work onto the large separator and a 24" Cresent wrench. I sheared off the roll pin and bent the bolts on the small separator but got the wheel off. I extended the shaft as the wheel hit the hood on Skonk.

 

[Rod Addicott 2]

I put a large crescent wrench on the shaft below the steering wheel after i removed the roll pin and beat the wrench with a big hammer until i got it off!

[953 nut 55,372]

@Rod Addicott,    please tell us a little more about your interest in  by doing an introduction.   https://www.wheelhorseforum.com/forum/47-introductions/?do=add

[WHNJ701 4,165]

Sometimes you got to pick and choose your battles, the david bradley, the bolens both steering wheels were frozen to the shafts bad.  I could have fought them for weeks and who knows might have caused more damage.  Both those wheels I restored "in place" on the shaft, dremeling/jb weld the cracks.

As for roll pins you can't just hammer them out with a punch, you need a metal block behind the pin to remove

[peter lena 8,647]

I  can relate, to my initial attempts at wheel removal , the best thing you can do , (  my opinion )  is to solidly  side brace the wheel against a wall with a solid wood 4x4 ,when your impacts directly drive into the roll pin of the wheel , (  without bouncing ) that is what will move the pin. anything you do must be solidly centered to move your issue , I  also clean up any related contact points and use never seize in the refit. having done this on my 3 horses , I know it works and has made a real problem , a non issue, pete     

[Handy Don 12,257]

3 hours ago, peter lena said:

I  can relate, to my initial attempts at wheel removal , the best thing you can do , (  my opinion )  is to solidly  side brace the wheel against a wall with a solid wood 4x4 ,when your impacts directly drive into the roll pin of the wheel , (  without bouncing ) that is what will move the pin. anything you do must be solidly centered to move your issue , I  also clean up any related contact points and use never seize in the refit. having done this on my 3 horses , I know it works and has made a real problem , a non issue, pete     

Can relate to the "roll pin challenge" and will definitely keep the "4x4" trick in mind for both removals and installs in the future. Fortunately the last time I did this I had the wheel and shaft off the tractor so used a bench vise to hold it. Also used anti-seize (boy that stuff is messy, though!)

[peter lena 8,647]

HANDY DON , yes that hammer bounce is telling you that you are not going any where, when that wheel is solid to the wall ,when  your first 3 lb hammer strike stays solid , that pin is moving. agree with you on the never seize mess, but it insures that next time it will be much easier. after fighting my way in , I also  got after related issues , started using a 2 bolt flange bearing on my shaft /thru consul area , stops shaft play . too often thinking that you are fixing one thing , it opens up to the opportunity to fix something else. started doing that on my 82 frakenhorse, experimenting , and testing , till it worked , then duplicated it on my other 2 horses. now they all work the same , with no issues , pete 

[Handy Don 12,257]

16 minutes ago, peter lena said:

 started using a 2 bolt flange bearing on my shaft /thru consul area , stops shaft play 

Thought about this. Replaces the "flatted side" bushing and bolted to the tilted bracket? Still need the grub-screwed collar to keep the shaft down, right? There are so many connections in the reduction steering that add tiny bits of play that I just live with it--not like a sports car, after all 

[peter lena 8,647]

don , this is the bearing I use ,https://www.vxb.com/3-4-UCFL204-12-2-Bolts-Flanged-Housing-Mounted-p/Kit7334.htm?gclid=CjwKCAiA_9r_BRBZEiwAHZ_v18CNkifnENP2glzvSExwLobk-wmGFvxkVAjSZFZ1lotFOVTXOewthxoCzEUQAvD_BwE , if you have a bolt thru area that the shaft goes thru , once you slide in place , you can see your mounting spots . much stronger than the original set up , just an idea, pete

[71_Bronco 1,072]

Wow, guess I was lucky with mine. I got mine off with one of those big 2-jaw pulley pullers (like the one below). Took a lot of PB Blaster, heat, and a big breaker bar on the puller, but it came off.

 

[Damien Walker 246]

After much fighting, I managed to get the roll pin out, but the shaft steadfastly refused to budge. As the centre cap was missing from the wheel, that gave me the idea of pushing it out in a press....

 

Drill through the plastic in the centre of the wheel, put in the press, supporting the boss from underneath and press out using a drift. There is no way it would have come out with any other method save for drilling out as The Tuul Crib  describes. Using a puller is likely to damage the underside of the boss.