ALFAGTV6.COM

okay,
i cant get the steering wheel off of my gtv6. i read the recent post on the milano. tried all that. i've removed steering wheels from several other cars. this one is stuck! i squirt oil on it three days in a row. tapped(hammered) on it with a brass drift. i snapped two puller screws using the steering wheel puller. stretched them to death.
any other suggestions out there?
i need to replace my highbeam/ turn signal switch and cant see a way around pulling the wheel off.

thanks
david

David,

When I pulled my steering wheel, I found a high tensile strength threaded rod (6mm) and cut it in half. I then found a large bolt (with a flat head bigger than the central shaft). After that, just find a piece of steel that you can cut (it doesn't have to be that big either).

Just make your own puller and it should work. Once you get the wheel stressed, give it a light pounding around the circumference and it should pop off (at least mine did).

When I made mine, I used a piece of soft wood instead of steel, and it worked beautifully. Tighten it until the washers on the nuts are starting to dig into the wood, before you pound on the wheel.

Hope I helped at all.

Carson

if yours is anything like mine....you need a small old style round wheel puller to get down into the wheel...and use some grade 8 bolts in the puller not the cheep crap supplyed with it...as a bonus use some anti seize on all of the threads this will keep it from binding up real bad

Thread the puller bolts through the steering housing, don't remeber if you can put small nuts on the back side. I used a mini MAP gas torch to heat the margin of the splined portion of the wheel, stay away from plastic and the shaft.

thanks all,

got it!

mini MAP gas torch

AHHHH SOOOO! so a MAP is a gas torch. So far I have just used them road directions. Weird that. (related to another post x-rad)

Yeah MD, I vaguely remember MAP before somewhere in a post. I guess I should have spelled it right "MAPP".

from the web: " Because of its superior heat transfer characteristics, MAPP produces a flame temperature of 5300°F when burned with oxygen. MAPP equals, or exceeds, the performance of acetylene for cutting, heating, and brazing"

Pretty damn HOT, even with room O2. You can quickly heat a small focal area. It comes in the yellow cans at hardware supply stores (sometimes with the mini-torch for light brazing).

Smells like crap so you know when you have a leak!!