Hi everyone. I'm pulling the steering wheel off my 1951 Chieftain to replace the horn ring.
The wheel puller bolt holes in the wheel hub have a weird thread. It is 5/16 but not the normal coarse or fine thread.
Anyone else had this issue??
Thanks everyone for your suggestions! Would you believe that a 8mm coarse thread bolt worked perfectly??!!
Very strange. Maybe GM did use their taps too long and my wheel was at the wrong end of a run and the metric bolt fit by a fluke.
At any rate, the wheel came off effortlessly!!
-- Edited by Grey Ghost on Friday 28th of August 2020 11:17:31 AM
Taylor55 said
Aug 22, 2020
Yes and the previous person partially stripped the threads by using the wrong bolts. Take your time and find the correct bolts that will thread in by hand. Maybe a manual will give the correct size.
Al
Grey Ghost said
Aug 22, 2020
Thanks Al.
Did you actually find the right bolts?
silver steak said
Aug 22, 2020
Hey Scott
I pulled out my service manual for the 1949 - 1950 models series 2000 and 2200 and under steering gear removal item three it states Using steering wheel Puller J-2927 , thread the puller anchor screws into the threaded holes provided in the steering wheel hub. The illustration shows only two bolts and no where dose it make note of the thread dimension !!!!! Now I know I had my steering wheel pulled off, can't remember for sure what thread dia. was that I used, if your are absolutely stuck, get back to me and I'll take my cap off and check one
Good luck
Dale
dualquadpete said
Aug 22, 2020
I've good luck pulling strg. wheels just by backing off nut flush with top of shaft, put both knees under wheel to push on it ,use brass punch and hammer, couple of whacks and off it comes!!!
Prefectca said
Aug 22, 2020
I have had to chase the holes in the steering wheel with a tap to clean up the threads. If I recall they should be 5/16 18 (coarse). I think that during the manufacturing process there are probably several hundred steering wheels threaded before the tapping tooling is replaced. I have seen lots of really horrible threads in steering wheels.
Paul
Grey Ghost said
Aug 22, 2020
Thanks Paul, very helpful.
That was going to be my last resort but didn't know if it was the right resort.
Have to get a bottoming tap I guess.
Scott
bjburnout said
Aug 27, 2020
dualquadpete wrote:
I've good luck pulling strg. wheels just by backing off nut flush with top of shaft, put both knees under wheel to push on it ,use brass punch and hammer, couple of whacks and off it comes!!!
Yup - that's all we ever did in the mid 60's (showing our age Pete). Didn't see an actual puller till the mid 70's......
oshawacliff said
Aug 27, 2020
Pete's way is called "Flate Rate".
beaucarlo said
Aug 28, 2020
time to buy a thread reconditioning kit...about $80.00...has all threads NC,NF & metric...this is 1 kit you should use constantly on old cars as well as new
Hi everyone. I'm pulling the steering wheel off my 1951 Chieftain to replace the horn ring.
The wheel puller bolt holes in the wheel hub have a weird thread. It is 5/16 but not the normal coarse or fine thread.
Anyone else had this issue??
Thanks everyone for your suggestions! Would you believe that a 8mm coarse thread bolt worked perfectly??!!
Very strange. Maybe GM did use their taps too long and my wheel was at the wrong end of a run and the metric bolt fit by a fluke.
At any rate, the wheel came off effortlessly!!
-- Edited by Grey Ghost on Friday 28th of August 2020 11:17:31 AM
Al
Thanks Al.
Did you actually find the right bolts?
I pulled out my service manual for the 1949 - 1950 models series 2000 and 2200 and under steering gear removal item three it states Using steering wheel Puller J-2927 , thread the puller anchor screws into the threaded holes provided in the steering wheel hub. The illustration shows only two bolts and no where dose it make note of the thread dimension !!!!! Now I know I had my steering wheel pulled off, can't remember for sure what thread dia. was that I used, if your are absolutely stuck, get back to me and I'll take my cap off and check one
Good luck
Dale
Paul
Thanks Paul, very helpful.
That was going to be my last resort but didn't know if it was the right resort.
Have to get a bottoming tap I guess.
Scott
Yup - that's all we ever did in the mid 60's (showing our age Pete). Didn't see an actual puller till the mid 70's......