>Can anyone help?
>There doesn't seem to be a place to put a wheel puller.
>Shop manual says to use special tool #xxxxx.
>Aside from brute force, what can I do without this tool?
>Any suggestion would be appreciated.
Odd, I have a '77 MGB also that I'm trying to get the steering wheel off
of to replace the turn signal switch. I've learned a little bit in my
attempts that might interest you (and no, I still haven't gotten it off.)
First thing I tried was what the '77 shop manual suggests; putting my
arms behind the wheel and pulling forward sharply to pull the wheel off.
After deciding I'd bruised my arms enough the wheel hadn't budged. So I
tried heating it with a small butane torch (smell the plastic burn!) and
still it would not seperate.
Next I bought a two-jaw puller. I put some scrap metal behind the spokes of
the wheel and the center pin of the puller on the steering wheel shaft
and started cranking it down. Because of the odd geometry of the spokes
it wasn't possible to get the puller exactly centered so it would always
slip when it started exerting pressure. So I put a piece of wood
between the puller and the bottom of the wheel to keep it in place.
This allowed me to crank the puller down till I was afraid of the
backlash in case it slipped but still the wheel didn't budge. So
I took it off and discovered that instead I'd bent the steering wheel.
It had pulled the spokes forward a little and the piece of wood had
pushed the wheel out of round (anyone have an MGB steering wheel they
want to sell?)
Next I tried a suggestion from a fellow at a parts store. He said that
there is always a little in/out play in the wheel so have one person pull
hard on the wheel and another bang on the center shaft with a piece of
metal and a hammer (leaving the nut on in case the threads get munged).
I tried this with two people pulling on the wheel and one hammering to
no avail. The next thing I tried was a three jaw puller but there was
no way to get it to grab well enough.
So next I took it to a shop. The fellow there tried the hammer trick
with no success.
He suggested I call another place that works a lot on MG's and from
them I "learned" that MGB steering wheels are very hard to get off.
He removes the shaft and wheel from the car and then bangs on them with
a hammer till they seperate, often munging the end bad enough that it
needs to be rethreaded.
I don't know why, but those tapered splines do not want to let go.
I happen to have a '78 shop manual also and just for the hell of it I
looked in it and found that they recommend using special tool #xxxxx
which is a triangular plate with three hooks to grab behind the wheel
and a bolt threaded through the middle. It looks like it might do
the job but where to find one?
So I'm building one. I have a plate of -heavy- iron and plan to
drill a hole in it, thread it, and then clamp the thing to the wheel
with C-clamps. If that doesn't do it, I'll either have to pull the
shaft and wheel and bang on it or hire someone else to do it. I still
have to buy a drill bit of the right size before I can try it. If it
works I'll let you know so you can fabricate one yourself (or perhaps
I can loan you mine.) If you discover some magic trick please let me
know about it!
It might actually be easier to pull the wheel and shaft and slip the
switch off the other end, if that's possible.
Ron
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