steering wheel removal

[BOBBYR]

Hi Gang ,
I've been wanting to remove the steering wheel on my
3000 (which is the original),and I'd like to do this without breaking the control head.I looked in the moss catalog, but thought I should run it by you guys before I break out the blow torch.Thanks for your help
Bobby R

 

[bob hughes]

Bobby

I have not yet tried that but from my experience of putting a control head in, I think that you would work in reverse, uncouple the control wires from the main harness just below the bonnet ( hood) catch, relax the three grub screws around the steering wheel boss, then here is the messy bit undo the nut and olive at the bottom of the steering box, you will need a a tray beneath to catch the oil and push the bottom of the stator tube up at the bottom of the steering box.This should give you enough projection of the control head out of the steering wheel boss to grab it and slide it out of the steering column. After that you can get at the steering wheel retaining nut. How you remove the steering wheel from the splines I am not sure as I did not have to do that, you could try just pulling it, but you may require some sort of a puller. I guess that there will be no shortage of suggestions

Bob

 

[zblu]

the olive may need to be pursuaded to move as it may have been crimped when the nut was tightened, I used some cloth wrapped around said olive and used the multi grips to remove, best to use a new olive on re-assembly

 

[GregW]

Hi Bobby,
Is your steering wheel the adjustable or non-adjustable kind? The procedure is a little different depending on which you have.

 

[John Loftus]

Hi Bobby,

I gather from your profile that you have a BJ8 which I think always have the adjustable kind.

There is a way to remove everything without removing tube from the steering box which avoids the oil mess.

Disconnect the steering wheel wires (they plug into the main harness in front of the radiator). Tape the bullets together but stagger them in-line so they form a small dia. tight bundle.

Loosen fully the three grub screws found on the outer 'slightly back' side of the steering wheel hub. You should then be able to pull the control head towards you and the wire harness will start to be pulled up through the steering column tube. It helps to have someone else keep the wire harness from getting tangled near the entry of the steering box as you pull the control head. IF the bullets don't want to easily go through the tube you can un-solder them. It's easy to do with a small torch or solder iron.

Once you remove the control head and wiring can you remove the steering wheel by removing the circlip on the steering shaft, loosen the adjusting collar and it just pulls off.

For re-assembly, I take a long piece of stiff wire (solid core electric wire for house hold interior wiring works great) and feed it up through the steering box end by going through the grill slat openings. Once it is through the steering column you attach the bullet wire bundle with just a bit of duct tape or strapping tape and then pull it through. Again, it helps to have a helper to feed the wire through and coordinate what's going on at both ends.

Cheers,
John

 

[johnea]

Bobby,

When you have the adjustable steering wheel, there is a two piece stator tube. The long tube is slotted at the top. It is recommended not to appy a twisting motion when you remove the control head to avoid widening the slot. On the short piece is a notch that slides up and down in this slot. In my opinion you don't have to remove the longer part.

 

[tahoe healey]

Mark the top (with wheel straight forward) for replacement even if you are not re-using the same steering wheel. It will make aligning a lot simpler and faster.

 

[BOBBYR]

Hi Guys,
Thanks for all the good tips.I went out to the garage to get started and already ,the grub screws are working me over.I'm sure a little penatrating oil,I will conquer the beast.Bob H., Greg W. and John L. thanks for bailing me out again.
Bobby R

And for you LUKE and zblu, May the force be with you..