I just pulled my steering wheel this past weekend. You nut will not look like the one in the above photos. Yours will be a 10mm hex. I used a small torch to heat the nut and it came out without a problem. Braced the wheel with a 2x4 and used a breaker bar to turn the nut.
My first thought was to have a nut welded on top of the bolt. My second thought was that would be potentially dangerous. Those more experienced in welding hopefully will chime in here.
Been there done that. If????? you can drill straight and on center 1/2" bit won't damage the threads. I worked up gradually to 7/16" bit and was able to loosen with chisel. May have used heat too with chisel.
False alarm....it came off, just needed a bigger hammer. Actually, just kept working at it with chisel and finally let loose. It did have hex head to begin with but got rounded out while I had wheel blocked with 2X4 and was using pry bar. With bolt out used grinder to cut slot across top of bolt, if I use same one (hope not), now will be able tighten with wide blade.
Thought it would be hard and maybe a mistake to remove horn assembly but I did, and it was quite easy to pry the rubber loose and unscrew the four bolts with springs on back and lifting the whole thing out of the way. Much easier than trying to work through that little emblem hole. Thanks for looking here.
SDR, that is a 10 mm machine screw. You should be able to find the root diameter online, but the chances of you drilling in the exact centre are slim.
I had the same problem. I drilled for a bolt extractor and managed to get it out with a bit of heat to loosen the red loctite.
I had trouble finding a replacement screw so I welded a hex head to the damaged one to reuse it.
I think a good hand could spot weld a hex head on to it in-situ, as Reno suggests.
It is all back together for now so I can drive car until ready to pull dash to repair odometer. I will pick up new bolt and should have taken picture of it while out but was in hurry. Bolt looks sort of like this if it will help anyone...
I'm not a farmer but I use a lot of Duck Tape and anything else I can find laying around to get the job done...saves lots of trips to parts store and $$$$ too.
You're welcome Ron. Also can't forget JB Weld and Vice Grips. Back in my Harley riding days a buddy of mine laid his bike down and snapped off the shift lever. Vice grips to the rescue!
I think I have an extra steering wheel nut (or two), but at only $4.28 (or $5.75 MSRP) it's not worth the hassle to ship or wait for it to arrive. If you do have trouble getting your hands on one, let me know.
DON'T put any Loc-tite on the new bolt when you reassemble things again. It's not really necessary. There isn't really any stress on the wheel that would cause an untreated bolt to loosen, under normal usage.
DON'T put any Loc-tite on the new bolt when you reassemble things again. It's not really necessary. There isn't really any stress on the wheel that would cause an untreated bolt to loosen, under normal usage.
Any idea how much I need to cook the bolt to release the existing loc-tite? No offense San Diego Ron, but yours is the kind of cluster f#ck I want to avoid this weekend
I found that a heat-resistant fiberglass pad, which I've used when using a propane torch for plumbing work, is handy to have when using a torch on fasteners where the fastener is close to something that heat can damage. You can find one at any big box hardware store in the plumbing tools area.
The "regular" Loctite releases at 325 degrees, the high temp version at 500 degrees.
A trick mentioned on the board that I got this from was to heat it up, then dab a bit of beeswax on it. The heat melts the beeswax enough to wick into the threads, and it kills the Loctite. Beeswax has a very high smoke point, and it's easily obtainable at a hardware store as a toilet ring. The last time I got one of those, it was less than $2.00.
HTH,
Scott
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