Bad news Mark. It works! I took my steering wheel off by sitting on my
seat, bracing my knees against my wheel, and wacking the shaft with the
mallet. Popped right off in my lap. Sorry!
John "Rock" Rockefeller
1949 3100 "Eeyore"
----- Original Message -----
From: Mark Mintmier <tenisguy@gte.net>
To: Eugene Powell <epowell@woh.rr.com>
Cc: <oletrucks@autox.team.net>
Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2001 8:49 PM
Subject: Re: [oletrucks] 54 Chevy truck - steering column
> Yes, get a wheel puller. I wish someone would have impressed this upon me
when
> I removed my steering wheel. I recently finished removing EVERYTHING from
my
> 1950; it's down to a frame and wheels. Over the entire project, removing
the
> steering wheel was probably the most difficult step. Granted, I made it
> infinitely more difficult than it should have been, but I still wish I
would
> have just purchased/borrowed/rented/etc. a wheel puller to start with. I
> shouldn't tell anyone this, but at the risk of being laughed off the list,
> here's what I did. After removing the nut from the steering column, I
tried to
> pull the wheel from the column. I'm a pretty strong guy and the seat and
> everything was out, so how difficult could it be? Well, apparently I'm
not as
> strong as I thought because the wheel wouldn't budge. Next, being the
frugal
> (read that as stupid cheapskate), my next bright idea was to make a "wheel
> puller." I found an old door hinge that had holes about the right
distance
> apart. I thought that I could put two bolts down through the holes in the
hinge
> into the threaded holes in the steering wheel and as I tightened the
bolts, it
> would pull the wheel up. In theory, it's not a bad plan. Too bad I
wasn't
> removing my steering wheel in theory. I didn't take into account what
might
> happen when the bolts reached the bottom of the tapped hole in the
steering
> wheel. What actually happens at this point is that the bolt snaps off in
the
> steering wheel. I suppose at this point that I could drill the bolt out
and
> then get a wheel puller, but there has to be an easier way, right. Now no
> longer a cheapskate but still stupid, I go to the auto parts store and buy
the
> wheel puller that I should have purchased in the first place and a set of
screw
> extractors to remove the broken bolt. In case you're not familiar with
screw
> extractors, they are supposed to grab on to a broken bolt or screw because
they
> are counter threaded, but in reality, they are a cruel, cruel joke. I
drilled a
> small hole in the broken bolt and then tapped the smallest extractor into
the
> hole. When it was tight, I put a wrench on it and started to turn it. Of
> course the screw extractor broke off in the hole that I just drilled in
the bolt
> that broke off in my steering wheel. Thinking that maybe it was my fault
> because I didn't drill the hole deep enough, I drilled another deeper,
longer
> hole down through the broken bolt and a piece of a very hard screw
extractor. I
> tapped a bigger extractor into the new hole, put a wrench on it, and
started to
> turn it to work the broken bolt out of the hole. Even though I'm the only
one
> in the whole world who didn't know what was going to happen next, I'll
tell you
> anyway. The bigger screw extractor broke off in the hole in the bolt that
had
> broken off in my steering wheel. After calming down to the point where my
> vocabulary returned from incoherent random words mainly consisting of four
> letters, I decided that maybe it was time to try the wheel puller. I
proceeded
> to drill out the broken bolt, but this was now a problem because the the
bolt
> had already been mostly drilled out, and now I had to drill through a very
hard
> broken screw extractor. There was no way to get a hole started in the
middle of
> the screw extractor, so the new hole that I drilled was slightly off
center from
> the old hole. The next order of business was to thread the new hole that
I just
> drilled. It's worth mentioning that the metal in the steering wheel is
very
> hard, and I have a very inexpensive tap and die set (see cheapskate note
> above). Of course my tap would not cut threads into the hole that I
drilled.
> After much effort and several different methods, I was able to get one of
the
> steering wheel puller bolts to hold in the new hole. The problem now was
that
> since the two holes were no longer lined up, after a few cranks on the
steering
> wheel puller, it would slip off the steering shaft. At this point I may
not
> have been thinking clearly, but I whipped out the reciprocating saw. As
I'm
> sure you've now come to expect, all I had was a wood-cutting blade. Now
> encouraged that I finally have an idea that might work regardless of the
cost, I
> head off to WalMart to buy some metal-cutting blades. I came back to the
> garage, fired up the saw, and cut through top of the steering shaft and
most of
> the steering column. I knew that I wouldn't be re-using the original
steering
> column, but somewhat regret that I destroyed it. After I got the steering
wheel
> off, it still had a small length of the steering shaft in it. I put it in
a
> vice and tapped on it with a hammer. Obviously it popped right out. The
moral
> of this long-winded story? Get a wheel puller. After my ordeal, someone
told
> me that I could have tried putting the nut back on the end of the steering
shaft
> and pulling on the wheel with all my might while someone else smacked the
nut
> with a rubber mallet. They said that sometimes the jolt is enough to
loosen the
> wheel while pressure is being applied. I guess I'll never know if this
really
> works. I almost hope that it doesn't, though.
>
> Mark Mintmier
> 1950 3100 (down to the frame, but missing a steering column)
>
> Eugene Powell wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> > Can anyone tell me if I have to use a puller to get my steering wheel
off the
> > column? My son and I are trying to get the truck ready for sand
blasting.
> >
> > G. Powell
> > 54 Chevy truck
> > oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
> oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
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