Case/Ingersoll Steering Wheel Removal

Disclaimer - The instructions that follow were my method only to remove the "pinned-type" steering wheel that I have on my 1986 Case/Ingersoll 446 (but have heard this will work for other attachment type steering wheels). This method has been used successfully by others, but I'm sure there are likely other ways to remove a stubborn steering wheel. Mine was practically welded on with corrosion and after several attempts using different approaches, this was my last best effort to remove it intact, without cutting either the wheel or steering shaft. You may want to try simpler methods first.

The typical Case steering wheel is molded out of a bakelite/plastic material with the wheel hub completely molded around a steel cup within the center of the wheel. It's this center steel cup that slides onto the steering shaft. Over time, corrosion will work it's way into the tight tolerances between the mating surfaces of the steering shaft and the inner steel cup of the steering wheel. In addition, on "pinned-type" steering wheels, the pin is not solid, but a "rolled spring-type" pin, which also allows moisture to enter and form corrosion between the pin and the drilled pin hole in the steering shaft. All of these factors can make removal extremely not only difficult, but extremely frustrating.

I wanted to attempt to pull the wheel from the steering shaft which means pressing down on the center of steering shaft while supporting the steering wheel steel cup from underneath. However, the only way to see the top of the steering shaft is to drill down through the plastic on top of the wheel hub center, to expose the top of the steering shaft.

This is the set-up I used. Equivalent substitutes will also work, but make sure you get proper support around the outer edge of the steel cup (see the fourth photo below).

OTC 1122 Bearing Splitter (available at Graingers)
Craftsman Steering Wheel Puller 41833 - 1/2" threaded rod (I liked it mostly for the strength of the puller base)
4 - 1/2" bolts to reach the bearing splitter (the bolts included in the wheel puller are not long enough)

First, drive out the 1/4" roll pin with an appropriate pin punch (make sure the punch outside diameter fits snugly into the pin hole of the steering wheel).Using a pin punch that is too small may spread the end of the roll pin and make removal more difficult. Liberally spray PB Blaster or other penetrant spray inside the pin hole of the steering wheel and allow it time to work into the mating surfaces of the shaft and pin. It will take several good blows to break the bond between the pin and the steering shaft. The driver I had was only long enough to get the pin halfway through (it is a fairly long pin as seen in the second photo). I used a 1/4" steel rod to drive it the rest of the way out. The pin I removed was pretty corroded for a good part of it's length, although some of it "cleaned off" as it was driven out. See pics below -





Next, carefully removed the center cap of the steering wheel and (using progressively bigger drill bits) drill out the plastic in the center of the steering wheel hub face. Below is a view of the drilled hole which is probably 3/8" deep before you find the top of the steering shaft. I "hogged out the hole a little so I could also see the steel cup within the wheel. If you look closely, you can see the corrosion and pitting in the inside diameter of the steel cup, on the removed wheel (sorry, the photo is a little blurry).



Lift the steering wheel as high as you can (it's likely dropped a little due to steering shaft bushing wear) and install the bearing splitter with the flat face against the bottom of the wheel. Evenly adjust the splitter nuts to draw the two halves together to the point that you can start both bolts into the splitter faces. You want to draw them in as far as possible (with the sides of the bolts tight against the wheel hub), so the splitter edges can rest against the metal surface of the inner steel cup on the underside of the wheel. You won't be able to draw them together as far as you would like since the Case wheel hub is round, but there should still be plenty on contact area (see the view of the bottom of the removed wheel, along with the splitter/steel insert contact area).



The above steering wheel puller has one other advantage. The threaded rod is 1/2" diameter, which makes it a good choice to drive out the steering shaft (which is 5/8" diameter). My other pullers had threaded rods that were too large. One problem with the puller (for this job) is that the nice swivel base it had was too large, therefore I cut it off (hated to do this to a perfectly good tool). See below -



Assemble the puller with the previously installed bearing splitter and bolts (see below).



Make sure that the puller bolt will find the center of the steering shaft before continuing. If you didn't see the same amount of steering shaft face and inner steel cup edge when looking down through the drilled hole in the wheel hub (does not look centered), it's likely been drilled off center and the drilled hole will only guide the threaded rod onto the top edge of the inner steel cup. You want to avoid damaging/scarring this inner steel cup as the fit is close to an "end to end" fit, with not much clearance between the inner diameter of the steel cup and the outer diameter of the steering shaft.

Tighten very tight with a 1/2" drive ratchet to make sure everything looks centered. Whack down on the top of the puller bolt a couple of times, retighten the puller. Repeat until it won't tighten anymore. Finally, don't expect it to release and pull off right away. I tightened the heck out of that puller and I could easily still slide that 1/4" rod I used to help drive out the roll pin, completely throught the hub and shaft. Hadn't budged even a fraction of an inch!

I then sprayed liberal amounts of PB Blaster down in the top of the drilled hole and walked away. Did this two nights in a row, then broke out the impact driver on the third night. Set the driver to the lowest "1" setting to hammer the puller bolt a little. Increased it to "2" and I started to see the puller bolt start to walk a little. Stopped, then hit it again with the driver and the bolt slowly rotated, then sped up as it freed the wheel.

I did a quick visual inspection on the steel insert after removing the wheel and found it to be perfectly intact and the wheel undamaged.