How NOT to change a steering wheel

[labonnevillastrangiato]

Adam..if it takes you 24 minutes....you are doing something wrong.

My wife asked, "How long will this take?"
"1/2 hour or so.
It took over 3 hours.

I rented a puller from Canadian Tire. Great, good to go, right?
Disconnected the battery, safety first! Then removed the SIR/horn assembly by removing the four Torx screws on the back of the wheel. Here we see the main nut that must be undone.

Following the instructions of the puller, I put it in place and began removing the wheel. Here is where the comedy comes in: The puller managed to mangle the threads for the main nut that holds the wheel on. Completely mushroomed the top of the threads, unbenounced to me. Here is the moral: DON'T TAKE THE NUT ALL THE WAY OFF. Just loosen it, so the puller can crack the wheel away from the splines. Remove the nut AFTERWARDS! Most of you probably know that, but not I.
I could not get the nut back on for the life of me. My wife comes out, "Done yet?" Oh yeah, I finished it off alright...
I need a die to re-thread. How am I going to get to Canadian Tire? My neighbour! He came through and took me. The thread pitch seems to be 1/2" N.F. so I grabbed the die and headed home. I treid to re-thread, panick stricken at this point. Finally, I managed to clean them up enough to get the nut back on. Whew! I'm a bonehead, at least I'm a resourceful bonehead though when things go wrong.
I returned the puller when I picked up the die:
Cdn Tire Guy: So, how did it work out for you?
Me: Not so well.
Why?
I explained.
You know, I've rented this tool out 100 times, and never heard of that happening.
Me: Leave it to Beaver.

Wanna see how it turned out??

Before: Old Philthy Mc Crusty was a nasty wheel. You'd get leather/skin particles on you after driving, as the leather had worn so badly:





It's funny. Your steering wheel is how you are in touch with your car. When your sense of touch finds nastiness, hand leavings and grotiness, it tends to affect your pleasure to drive. It's not fare to have a car that you love so much, when it feels icky to drive.

New Hotness, and good feelings:



Right after putting my tools away, I took the family to a local outside festival. It now has that AAh! feeling when you drive. Huge difference.

So remember, when pulling a steering wheel, leave the nut on until it is free from the splines, then take it off!
This job should have taken 20 minutes...

Cheers,
Adam

[myfirstbonnie]

The best lessons in life are:





The ones learned on your own. You never forget your own screw ups, but hey, it looks great and it all worked out.

[Gumball]

at least we got a good story to read out of it.

the new one looks great though

[harofreak00]

00+ are even more tricky. There are no threads to grab. You need to make your own tools

[WhiteArrow3800]

lol, good moral!

[clm2112]

The ones learned on your own. You never forget your own screw ups, but hey, it looks great and it all worked out.

That's life. A long series of amusing stories of your screw-ups to pass on to your friends.

Hint to others.. when using a puller, slip a penny between the puller and the shaft. It's soft, will crush out, and will protect the end of the shaft.

[cml37]

Hey! You got it back together. That's more than I could've done!

It's funny. Your steering wheel is how you are in touch with your car.

Very true! I remember that wheel style from my '95. Sure do miss the old girl.

[repinS]

I was away this weekend and my dad (an industrial mechanic... everything is DIY for him) decided to do some work on the 95... He tried making his own puller but didn't have thick enough steel to fashion one. $30 for a puller and all was well, even after a couple of re-tries from incorrect reassembly.

Oh well, my high beams work again!

[Blown93SSEi]

You do NOT want to see whats under my steering wheel cover..... 206k miles does alot I guess....

[LeSabreUltra]

I discovered this neat little item to dress up a wheel that is a little on the worn side. Mine had a bit of wear on the top left. So I put this on it:



(That pic is about a year old...my interior looks a bit different now!)

If you take your time and do it right, it comes out looking really great. You have to stitch it on there yourself. But if done right, it looks, feels, and lasts like a factory leather steering wheel. I'm very pleased with it. I've had these on two of my cars so far (the other being an old Honda Accord) and they're very high quality.
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[wjcollier07]

Mine already has a little bit of fading on it from the wonderful florida sun, so I just keep a vinyl cover on it...it makes it nicer to grip a larger soft thing than a thinner wheel...looks better too IMO.

I still pull it off every so often and condition the leather....boy is that a PITA getting it back on after it shrinks.

Glad you survived the steering wheel pulling...can't learn the real way but from personal experience.

[Skippy1827]

Mine has wood and leather on it. Very comfy