Jeep WJ 2000 - Help removing a steering wheel with shaved tabs (can't use 2 jaw puller).

[Pudu4X4]

Hi ppl,

I am trying to replace my clockspring, but the steering wheel is stuck, REALLY stuck. Can't use a 2 jaw puller, as the place where is supposed to grip, is broken, so it just slides (I guess that's why the previous owner didn't change the thing). Tried using brute force, rock it back and forth and a mallet, but it does not budge. Soaked in WD40 overnight the last couple of days, nothing. Tried to heat the surrounding are of the spline with a heat gun, nothing. Strapped it and tried to use the me in the seat as leverage (has a tab broken and its vertical position is always full back) nothing.

I worry I could deform the sterring wheel at this point.

I was thinking of cutting and removing the clockspring with a dremel, and try to use a bearing separator in place of the clockspring to remove the steering wheel.

I also saw a page where they drill some holes and used a screw type remover, but I worry that it will just strip the threads as the metal is very brittle.

If anyone has more ideas or experience, please share them, I have no more ideas left.

Thanks in advance,

Pudu4x4

 

[Chris142]

Pics of the situation would help

 

[eljefino]

Could you drill some 1/4" holes through spokes in the wheel then use the steering wheel puller with a bunch of nuts and washers?

 

[Pudu4X4]

Here some pics on the situation:

Front view:

Left side shaved/broken:

Right side shaved/broken:

Strap thing I made trying to remove it (Imagine I was seated and pushing with my legs so my back would push the vertical support of the seat):

 

[ripcord]

What about pulling the whole steering column out as a unit? It might be easier to replace with a pick and pull column than fighting your broken one.

 

[97prizm]

Hi ppl,

I am trying to replace my clockspring, but the steering wheel is stuck, REALLY stuck. Can't use a 2 jaw puller, as the place where is supposed to grip, is broken, so it just slides (I guess that's why the previous owner didn't change the thing). Tried using brute force, rock it back and forth and a mallet, but it does not budge. Soaked in WD40 overnight the last couple of days, nothing. Tried to heat the surrounding are of the spline with a heat gun, nothing. Strapped it and tried to use the me in the seat as leverage (has a tab broken and its vertical position is always full back) nothing.

I worry I could deform the sterring wheel at this point.

I was thinking of cutting and removing the clockspring with a dremel, and try to use a bearing separator in place of the clockspring to remove the steering wheel.

I also saw a page where they drill some holes and used a screw type remover, but I worry that it will just strip the threads as the metal is very brittle.

If anyone has more ideas or experience, please share them, I have no more ideas left.

Thanks in advance,

Pudu4x4

I thought Jeep had a recall and free repair for this not too long ago? If so maybe you can get it repaired for free.

 

[BC1]

Get the puller on there the best you can and air hammer next to it. Put the torch on it under load of the puller also.

If you wreck it and get a junkyard until make sure to swap over the SKIM before trying to start it.

 

[Timmastertech]

Air hammer with a punch bit in the center of the steering shaft with the nut loose. I dont like using this method because you run the risk of damaging the column but you are about at the point where you need a column anyways so not much to lose here.

 

[eljefino]

What are those two holes for at 3 and 9 o'clock? Fasteners or locating tabs coming off the airbag?

Get a 2x2 chunk of square stock steel, drill some holes through it to get fasteners through those offending holes, drill a hole down the center, weld a nut around the hole, send a bolt down the middle to use as a jacking screw against the column.

Your strap thing is cocking the wheel about 30 degrees down, so you're not pulling on it straight, which won't help.

 

[D60]

Alright, you need a puller with a yoke. You can still use a 2-jaw, but you have to keep the jaws from splaying. You may have to drill the arms and use all-thread.

If you don't want to drill a quality puller, make jaws from flat bar.

Preload with a yoke and create vibration. It'll come.

This is Icon's copy of Snappy's CJ2000; dunno if the widest is wide enough which is why you may have to make something or modify a kit like this

edit: in other news apparently Yoko is still alive and she's 92?!?!

 

[Chris142]

Alright, you need a puller with a yoke. You can still use a 2-jaw, but you have to keep the jaws from splaying. You may have to drill the arms and use all-thread.

If you don't want to drill a quality puller, make jaws from flat bar.

Preload with a yoke and create vibration. It'll come.

This is Icon's copy of Snappy's CJ2000; dunno if the widest is wide enough which is why you may have to make something or modify a kit like thisView attachment 290558
edit: in other news apparently Yoko is still alive and she's 92?!?!

A 2 jaw puller is your best bet. Get it snug and tap on the end of it. Tighten a little bit,repeat

 

[Pudu4X4]

Thanks for the replies. I couldn't get a jaw puller with a yoke, and don't have the power tools, or place, to do try an do one myselft, but I got a puller with bigger teeth (dunno how is actually called the bit that grabs into the steering wheel), and managed to grab below the tabs with a firm grip.

I am not from the USA, but from Chile, South America, so pick and pull yards and ICON or any decent brand tools from the USA are rare or none existent here. Also Jeep itself wasn't that popular in here till ~2016 (Jeep was considered a luxury brand here till the cheaper Renegade model arrived here), so any model before that is rare. Still, managed to find a place that had like 5 of them while looking for the entire assembly as backup plan, I will go to see what they have just in case.

Well, after a week of fighting, letting it soak on WD40 almost every night, I decided to buy a MAPP torch, and noticed a WD40 specialist penetrant, never saw it before, so I thought might as well give it a try.
Dunno if it was already loosen up, but 5 minutes after applying some of that specialist stuff under tension, while I was reading how to use a torch (never used one before), I hear a POP, and the steering wheel was free. Finally.

Now I have two questions, should I put anti seize on it? and, I see some dirt (I wonder if last owner left the sunroof open for several days somewhere), so how can I clean it up, just alcohol and a wipe?

Here are some pictures, of the spline and if you see the black part behind the clockstping, there is with dirt.

 

[BC1]

The anti seize and alcohol to clean are good choices.