Steering Wheel Removal

[Bruce74B]

My recarpeting job has expanded into a few other minor projects including a new steering wheel and horn ring...but I'm having a heck of a time getting the steering wheel off my 74B. I took off the horn pad and removed the nut and tried to remove the wheel with a gear puller...and bent the wheel and chipped the hub. I have spent days spraying the hub with WD40 and Liquid Wrench and now have a wheel removal tool hooked up with about 3000 lbs of force on the hub...BUT IT WON'T BUDGE!!! Any suggestions??? HELP...will heat help? any magical tricks to this? Did I miss a set screw somewhere??? I have a new hub and wheel on the way and would like to get this hub off before I put in the new carpet.

Thanks!

Bruce

 

[Jim C]

Bruce,

Try putting the nut back on so that the nut is almost flush with the shaft. Then hit the nut carefully with a hammer. It worked on my '69 B.

 

[Bret]

I pulled my steering wheel on my 78B several times. I think your on the right track with the WD-40 and/or liquid wrench. But this time - let it soak in overnight real good and then try it again in the morning. If that doesn’t work - Another thing you might try is to put the hub nut back on and over-torque it (+10 to 15%) & let it sit for awhile before you try it again. This procedure (or a combination of both together) might help. Least ways it has almost always worked for me.

Bret

 

[Gary Lloyd]

Just loosen the nut, (do not take it off, unless you are a masicist and like self inflicted injury) and give it a good hard yank!! I bet it will come!! If not, there are other ways, but try that first!!

 

[Guest]

is this learned from personal experience

 

[Bruce74B]

Thanks for the encouragment...I have yanked,wiggled and pulled by hand..I have hooked a gear puller around the outside and torqued it until I cracked the hub...I have screwed in a borrowed steering wheel tool and torqued to about 120 ft lbs...sprayed WD40 and liquid wrench daily for a week...and last night I took a propane torch and heated it up until it smoked...all the time mixing in some good wacks with a mallet ...now I know why the 72B I looked at last summer had a seperate horn switch mounted on the console!

I will try over tightening the nut and whatever else I can think of tonight...this is beginning to make me crazy!

Bruce

 

[Brakedwell]

Bruce
It's meant to drive you crazy - it's an MG !!!
John

 

[XLY 245G]

Try hooking one end of a chain to the steering wheel, the other end to the wifes car, hit the loud pedal and voila!(desperate times call for desperate measures)

 

[Bret]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Brakedwell:
Bruce
It's meant to drive you crazy - it's an MG !!!
John<hr></blockquote>

Lord - Ain’t that the truth. But IMHO I’d much rather deal with these kind of issues, than chase those pesky Lucas Gremlins.

Bret

 

[WLJ]

Bruce, I had the same problem on a parts car I took apart.I also used a gear puller and bent the hub and tried wd40. Just as I was about to give up I yanked one last time and bingo! off it popped.So don't give up.Good Luck!

Warren

 

[Bruce74B]

Day 7...

Well, last night I took off the wheel puller and put the nut back on and torqued it up as tight as I could...this morning it still won't budge

Tomorrow I take the shroud off and attack again from the back a little! if that doesn't work, I'm gonna start drilling the hub apart...

Then if that doesn't work, I will get out the tow chain and hook it to the Surburban

Bruce

 

[Guest]

aren't little British cars just loads of fun

 

[piman]

Hello Bruce,
by all accounts your wheel is on tight!
My method over many years, and it has never failed is simply to slacken the centre nut and hit the wheel HUB hard from below with a soft (heavy) mallet (Mine's a Snap On plastic, lead loaded mallet) Once it has released (or should it be if?)from the taper, remove the nut then the wheel.
When you used your puller, assuming, that it is not hydraulic, did you hit the pull screw with a hammer to jar the wheel? This often works better than just the direct tension. That is how I split the rear hubs of my Triumph and they are on a long large taper and much tighter than any steering wheel would be.
Good luck,

Alec

[ 01-24-2003: Message edited by: piman ]</p>

 

[Bruce74B]

Day 8.....

IT IS OFF!!!! I tore the shroud cover off and soaked the back of the hub with WD40, heated the hub with a torch, pounded and torqued the nut and then the wheel puller...then the friend who loaned me the wheel puller stopped by and tried it...and off it came...nice as can be...and thinks I must be a wimp! LOL I don;t care... it is off...and the new one came via UPS and hour before that...so I'm set...now on with the carpet job.
Thanks for all the moral support!

Bruce

 

[jha2297255]

dont know how hard B steering columns are to remove, but for spridgets I just dismount the whole unit, pull back the housing and clamp the actual column in a vise, then a few well placed smacks with a large drift and 4 lb sledgehammer from behind and ta da. -Josh