Steering wheel removal

[jbeenemd]

Started a restoration on my L185DT and have been taking parts into for sandblasting and then repainting them. Got down to the dash and dang it. The last piece will not come off without removal the steering wheel. Now how do I get this thing off?
Jackie

 

[Russell King]

The end of the steering shaft is tapered (also keyed) so it may have been over tightened and will be hard to get off. I will try to go through each step in case you don't have some of them done:
1) there is a cover over the center of the steering wheel (hopefully). It is about 3 inches in diameter and is popped into the steering wheel. Should have some slot around the edge to pry it off, use a thin screw driver or knife to pry it off or you may be able to grab it and pull it off.

2) There is a nut on the top of the shaft. Loosen the nut to be flush to the end of the threaded section of steering shaft but don't take it completely off yet.

3) Liberally spray the shaft and steering wheel junction with your favorite penetration fluid (Kroil, PB Blaster, WD-40) and then walk away for some time. the longer the better probably.

4) DO NOT be tempted to remove the nut yet!

5) Stand on the tractor like you were driving it standing up. Grab the steering wheel with both hands (180 degrees apart) and give it a good pull. If it comes off, you will know why the nut was left on!

6) If it does not come off, you can repeat 3, 4 and 5 again if you have time. If not you may want to GENTLY tap the end of the shaft after spraying it to get the penetrating fluid into the joint.

7) Find a stronger person to try and get them to pull off the steering wheel. You could also gently tap the shaft end (with the nut still on to avoid damage to threads) while pulling up on the wheel.

8) If still not successful, find something like a bearing splitter that will fit behind the steering wheel and a puller to use to pull off the steering wheel. The steering wheel is not tapped for a puller and there is a plastic edge at the back that will break if the puller is applied there.

ALWAYS leave the nut on until the wheel releases. IT will release suddenly and without the nut on someone (or something) will not be happy if the steering wheel is not stopped by the nut.

Mine came off real easy after soaking for the week. Good Luck!

 

[Eric McCarthy]

I've had my wheel off several times and a gear puller worked great each and every time.

 

[lsmurphy]

I've had my wheel off several times and a gear puller worked great each and every time.

Yep.



Don't crank down on the nut when you reinstall....lightly snug.........and it will come off again with ease next time.

Grease or anti-seize the splines.

 

[jbeenemd]

Thanks for the replies, I had already tried all of the above. Even broke a gear puller trying to get the wheel off. Have sprayed with PB Blaster. Went by O'Reillys last night and picked up a 2/3 arm puller to try. By the time I got home it was dark. Hard to work in the dark and hold 3 arms on the wheel and crank at the same time. Will have to wait until I have an extra hand and some daylight. Also more time with the PB Blaster. Just got to thinking that in my haste, I was missing something. I guess it is just stuck on there.
Jackie

 

[bandaidmd]

Trying to remove a guide wheel spindle from a cutter I built a dam to hold the pb blaster in a puddle over the shart. Maybe something like that will help yours to soak in. Like someone else said peck at it with a small hammer to let some vibration help the fluid work in.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[Russell King]

I replaced my steering wheel (due to its level of decay) with one from Weaver's that looks very similar to the original.

If you can't get yours to pop off you may have to resort to cutting it off (carefully of course). I think that you will be able to get it to pop since it is tapered shaft fit.

If you need to see pictures of the steering wheel that is off the tractor, let me know and I will try to get some this weekend.

 

[Eric McCarthy]

Maybe an actual steering wheel puller may be a wise purchase. Looking on Google they seem affordable...

20 bucks at Auto Zone http://www.autozone.com/autozone/ac...-and-Equipment/Steering-Wheel-Puller/_/N-2652

 

[bandaidmd]

A steering wheel puller needs threaded holes in the wheel that I don't think kubota's have. Like the op sugjested a split bearing puller plate and a 2 arm puller will do the least amount of damage to your wheel.

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[Wbk]

Started a restoration on my L185DT and have been taking parts into for sandblasting and then repainting them. Got down to the dash and dang it. The last piece will not come off without removal the steering wheel. Now how do I get this thing off?
Jackie

Hi Jackie if there are no puller holes, and you can't get it off by hand. Try leaving the nut flush with the top of the shaft, put your knees under the wheel use a brass drift and hammer on the end of the shaft as hard as you can hit it. I've taken hundreds of wheel of trucks that way.just make sure to push up hard with you knees and hit it hard and square. Hope tis helps Barry

 

[Lil Foot]

Not to rain on your parade, but I had a golf cart steering wheel that I could not remove, (similar attachment) that I ended up having to destroy to remove. I soaked, tapped, pounded, yanked, heated, cussed, sweated, tried several different pullers, (broke one)..... finally cut all the plastic off & had to split the splined hub with a dremel tool. It had no lube or anti-sieze, some rust, and was probably severely overtightened. I hope you get it off, but sometimes you just gotta throw in the towel & destroy something for you sanity.....

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

I will throw in a word of caution on the hammer trick:
Yes it works great on auto and truck steering wheels, but it doesn't work so well on older tractor wheels, there is no collapsible joint in the shaft so any hammer force that you put on the shaft goes strait to the rack and can break fragile parts.

 

[jbeenemd]

Well FINALLY it broke loose. Sprayed it every day with PB Blaster. Today used the 5 ton 3 arm wheel puller that I got from the auto store and it broke free. Really had to put some torque on the wheel before it did break loose. Was not rusted on but looked like there was some residual stuff there that could be something like a glue. The plastic coating already had extensive cracking before I started. Looks much worse now. There is some play in the shaft. Should I be worried about that? There is also some play in the steering box and was going to try and take the slack out of it as well. The more I do to this thing, the more I find to work on.
Jackie

 

[Russell King]

Glad you got the steering wheel off!

Not sure how to answer your questions but you can read through the articles that are here (see link below) about the steering box repair.

As to the play, there is not much support at the top of the steering shaft. On mine it is just the sheet metal tube and the steering shaft. There is a rubber bushing between the two that supports the shaft. The bushing often gets worn out from the pulling and pushing around on the steering wheel. I would replace that for sure and any other seals at the top of the column since they keep water from running into the steering box.

Read this and the several articles on how to rebuild the steering box. There are also a bunch of posts in the forum about the steering box.

http://www.orangetractortalks.com/2009/02/diagnosing-and-preventing-steering-box-failure/

 

[retiredFF]

well I just used wbk's way of removing the steering wheel worked like a charm. soaked it with penetrant for a day, put the steering assy. between my legs wheel on top, nut FLUSH with top of shaft ( capitalized flush because on the first try I damaged a thread by not having it flush) hit it hard with hammer popped right off. Thanks WBK

 

[cb750k8]

Dont know your tractor but I had same problem when I did a restoration on my B7200.

On my steering wheel there were three slots ( visable after you remove a plastic cover mentioned above) . These are intended for a specialised puller which is a Kubota tool and probably very expensive. A standard puller did not fit in these slots. I made a puller with three pieces of threaded rod (8mm) 6nuts 6 washers and a plate 8mm thick with three holes drilled to the appropriate spacing. The nuts and washers fitted against the bottom of the steering wheel, rod fitted through the slots and plate fitted over the shaft. Tighten the three top nuts equally and firmly and the wheel will pop off.

There are other articles on this site on the same issue. Broken teeth got mentioned if one tries to pull off a wheel by hand and it suddenly releases.

Make a close examination of your steering wheel and see if this or a similar solution will work. It is unlikely that Kubota did not have a plan for removal of steering wheels from all their tractors.

Cheers