Maybe somebody here knows

An all to common problem :(

Put the nut back on, but only exactly flush with the top of the steering shaft.

Put something in the floor board if necessary that will allow you to lift the steering wheel with your knees, using your calf muscles.

Lay a flat piece of steel across the nut and rap with a hammer.

This works often, but not always. Be careful to go slowly at first, checking the nut to make sure it still spins easily by hand. If you start to detect any distortion, give up and go shopping for pullers.

You might also consider rigging a dent knocker to the wheel. If you have one, and you can rig it without too much trouble.

Put as much upward pressure as you can on it with your knees, put a brass or AL block on the shaft and run an air hammer on it with a bumping or blunt chisel. It'll vibrate right off...maybe.

... I had the exact same issue with my tractor. I ended up building a split collar that bolted on below the wheel. Then a standard three lever puller took it right off.

Karl

Similar to these split pullers Harbor Freight has on sale this week?

Use With Two-Jaw Pullers and Shop Presses

Designed for use on jobs where space does not permit the use of puller jaws directly behind the part to be removed.

-Solid steel

-Black industrial finish

Capacity: 4-3/8''; Length: 8-1/2''; Threads: 5/8''-18

ITEM 3979"

Coupon good thru 08/03/09, $11.99 See:

I guess! First, thanks to all for the help and all the ideas. Now at least I have some things to try and probably one of them will do the trick. It also tells me that there is nothing wrong and that it's just a matter of applying enough force to the wheel to get it to come off. The trick will be applying enough force without breaking anything. I'm really quite good at breaking things. So I'll have to make sure my skill in that department doesn't keep me from the job of actually removing the wheel.

Hawke

On Mon, 27 Jul 2009 01:45:48 -0400, the infamous "Buerste" scrawled the following:

That's how I always did it. I'd leave the nut half on the shaft so it kept from hitting me in the face when it came. One hand was used on the impact hammer, one hand lifted on the wheel, and one knee under the wheel, attempting to balance the pull. It usually took under a second to pop loose, but I had a good, long-piston CP hammah. I did front end work and it took every pound of hammer force to loosen some of that stuff.

As I was warning another mechanic pulling a wheel one time, it hit him in the face. I missed saving him by || that much! The red mark on his (luckily unbroken) nose and black eyes were fun topics for weeks. ;) (I learned with a near miss.)

-- Mistrust the man who finds everything good, the man who finds everything evil, and still more the man who is indifferent to everything. -- Johann K. Lavater

I'd try some PB Blaster on it, and then let it sit overnight to soak. Then try whatever puller or method you think will work. That stuff works good.

Steve

Hawk needs a liberal solution. He should hire a union guy and pay him overtime, workers comp, vacation, sick time, drug rehab, job training and monthly cheese.

On Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:03:41 -0400, the infamous "Buerste" scrawled the following:

Hey, then he'd get the hack Union result, too, huh? Excellent idea.

-- A great preservative against angry and mutinous thoughts, and all impatience and quarreling, is to have some great business and interest in your mind, which, like a sponge shall suck up your attention and keep you from brooding over what displeases you. -- Joseph Rickaby

Hire "Millwright Dork" Gerry :-)} London, Canada

Thankfully, I can say that I have finally gotten the steering wheel off my Jeep, and I do appreciate all the ideas and tips that I got. In fact, of all the places I tried to find out how to do it the one place that I got the help that I needed was here. I don't remember who posted it but I got a webpage that showed a number of ways people removed the wheel. They did say it was really hard to get the wheels off too. I tried the method of putting lubrication on the shaft and then using my forearms and knees to rock the wheel off. Didn't work. I had to stop when I noticed a hairline crack in one of the wheel's spokes by the hub. I did say I was good at breaking things. I finally went to HF and got a device for pulling gears or bearings, forget which. That I attached to the back of the wheel. Once I put the wheel puller on it the wheel came right off. Another case of having the right tool is all you need to do any job. Now that the wheel is off all I have to do is put on the new one. But as you would expect that isn't going on without any problems either. It's always something.

Hawke