o No: Good Day All, I have a '69 Skylark GS with the ugly stock steering wheel with tilt.I have a rally wheel on the way.My question is,how do i remove the stock steering wheel? Help please! Thanks in advance
You need a steering wheel puller. It will come right off. I bought a cheep one years ago form JC Whitney, I still use it from time to time. It's the only way.
You will need more than just the puller. There is a plate under the steering wheel cover that has slots around the outside. There is a pin that retracts when the key is turned, allowing the steering wheel to turn. This plate must be pressed downward along the column, remove the wire retainer and the plate to get to the nut that holds the wheel in place. There is a fairly inexpensive tool that looks very much like a pitman arm puller. It's a U shaped bar that has a bolt going through the center. This bolt is hollow and threads over the end of the column. It allows the plate to be pressed down. It's a hell of a lot easier than trying to hold the plate down against the spring AND trying to get that stupid little wire ring :rant: out at the same time.
What wire ring? I never had to remove the lock plate to swap a steering wheel. The horn wire and spring removes easily from the horn contact without removing the lock plate. Once the horn cap is removed, you remove the large nut. Install the puller and remove the wheel. Thats it. Install the sport wheel, tighten the nut, and install the horn contact parts (little stud and spring). Which by the way, is not included in the steering wheel kit.
That's right, Jason :TU: This is what the steering column looks like with the steering wheel removed: (hex nut and triangular safety snap ring replaced in their original position) About that lock plate: It's found under this plastic cover: With the plastic cover plate removed, it looks like this: Pressing down the lock plate: Retaining ring:
Maybe I see things you don't see ? Or you see things I don't see ? Screenshot of your post above: I think this Fiero-image is what you saw: ? I uploaded the photos to another location, so now you can view them without first visiting the website they were on originally :TU:
Oops! My bad! ou: uzzled: Sorry guys! Been a while since I pulled one apart and I guess I got ahead of my self!
So, I guess I need to remove this to adjust my turn signal switch? It wants to turn left unless I tilt the wheel all the way down then it works perfect. ..
Not sure how to fix your issue but to get to the turn signal switch, yes, you will need to remove that plate. This is only applicable to 69 and up columns with the ignition switch on the column.
Darn that was a little too involved for a simple steering wheel swap but those are some mighty helpful pics if someone has never been into a steering column before. I used to reposess cars in the middle eighties and believe it or not I used to tear down the columns to swap out the ignition cyliners in peoples driveways at night with a mini-mag flashlight in my mouth. Sometimes left the horn contacts out for the obvious reason. "Honey I just heard someone blow a car horn in the driveway" On some really sticky situations I actually drove the car away with vicegrips(tm) on the steering shaft and reassembled the rest at a safe spot later. Moral of the story? Make your car payments :bglasses:
