Wow, what a story! I've gotta ask though, what are you going to use as a new
steering column?
I've gotta figure out something fast for my '49. I don't have my old one, but
that's okay as I would like key in the column, intermittent wiper and signal
controls as well as column shift. Anybody have any suggestions? What is too
long/short? Where do you measure?
THanks a bunch.
-Lee
Mark Mintmier wrote:
> 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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