Re: steering wheel rnr/ign sw rnr

["David R Johnson" <johnsnd@domain.elided>]

On Mar 10,  3:56pm, Chris Lesher wrote:

> While I have no personal experience pulling steering wheels I do recall what
> folks here on the digest say is the key to success-  once you have the
> puller torqued don't keep cranking the puller to pull the wheel.  Instead
> whack the shaft of the puller with a hammer and off it should come.  Like I
> said I've never done it so take this advice for what it's worth.

This is certainly good advice, and has worked for me in the past with stubborn
puller jobs such as suspension ball-joint removal.  However, for whatever
reason it didn't work for me this time.  It doesn't help that there is nothing
available to whack at easily; the wheel spokes are somewhat flexible, and it is
difficult to wield a hammer close to the boss without the risk of sending a
turnsignal stalk spinning across the garage.  The stock Alfa M6 bolt is very
thin and allows the puller to move all over the place.  After a substantial
amount of this abuse, the threads finally said "Uncle".  Of course, when I
tried it with the thicker bolts, it came off easily.  Just like when you give
up trying to open a jar and the next person twists it off right away because
you did most of the work!

> That headless bolt is exactly that.  Just use a punch or sharp screwdriver
> and hammer to turn the bolt.  On my car once I broke it loose it was easy to
> spin it out by hand, and it was quite easy to break loose also.  You can use
> a cutoff bit to cut a screwdriver slot in the head also.

Thanks!  Exactly what I wanted to hear.

> I guess I'm the hammer mechanic,

A hammer is one of the most valuable car tools.  The secret is knowing when not
to use it :).

Dave J.
1982 GTV6

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