ivisonm
New member
How on earth do I remove the steering wheel from my Bowman 46? It a wooden one and in pretty bad condition but it wont come off...
Removing the steering wheel on Bowman 46
- Thread starter ivisonm
- Start date
Cliveshep
Well-known member
Assuming it's on a tapered keyed shaft you might try loosening the nut a half turn or so and wacking it with a bloody great hammer whilst exerting pressure on the wheel. A heavy hammer will do better than repeated blows with a lighter one which could damage the nut or shaft thread.
Spraying with PlusGas or WD40 and leaving overnight before abusing might also help.
However, if it is a pinned parallel shaft your options are more limited as it could be "frozen" throughout the entire length, again, PlusGas might help but you could face much more of a chore to get it off. You might have to strip the shaft out of the steering (if you can) and drift it out with the wheel supported around the boss.
Out of ideas now!
Spraying with PlusGas or WD40 and leaving overnight before abusing might also help.
However, if it is a pinned parallel shaft your options are more limited as it could be "frozen" throughout the entire length, again, PlusGas might help but you could face much more of a chore to get it off. You might have to strip the shaft out of the steering (if you can) and drift it out with the wheel supported around the boss.
Out of ideas now!
Adamastor
Member
Put a GOOD QUALITY 3- or 4-legged gear-puller on the metal part of the hub (you might need to brace the back of the wheel with some offcut steel straps if you can't get the legs of the puller onto it directly) and then you used a LARGE spanner to tighten the puller against the shaft.
You must secure the wheel and puller from rotating, and avoid any temptation to smack the wheel off- steering systems don't really like anything not related to the job of steering- they usually go on strike after that!
Caveat here: possibly look at putting a nut on the shaft just a thread or so just so the whole assembly doesn't fly off in a rush!
If that doesn't work, the old "CO2 extinguisher liberally discharged on the hub" trick or the "pack the shaft in dry-ice" lark might also shrink the shaft free from the hub as a last resort.
You must secure the wheel and puller from rotating, and avoid any temptation to smack the wheel off- steering systems don't really like anything not related to the job of steering- they usually go on strike after that!
Caveat here: possibly look at putting a nut on the shaft just a thread or so just so the whole assembly doesn't fly off in a rush!
If that doesn't work, the old "CO2 extinguisher liberally discharged on the hub" trick or the "pack the shaft in dry-ice" lark might also shrink the shaft free from the hub as a last resort.
Malcb
Active member
I realise it's a bit smaller, but I had to get a steering wheel off a RIB which was jammed on. It was on a keyed tapered shaft. I put a two legged puller on it, tightened it up as much as I dare, as I could only get the puller legs on the alloy part of the wheel, then I poured a kettle of boiling water over it 'et voila' loud crack and the wheel came off.
ivisonm
New member
Thanks for all the replies.
I used a (borrowed) two legged puller, tightened it up, and used pipe freezer spray to cool the shaft and et voila! the wheel popped off after a minute or so of cooling.
132 jobs to go before refloating...
I used a (borrowed) two legged puller, tightened it up, and used pipe freezer spray to cool the shaft and et voila! the wheel popped off after a minute or so of cooling.
132 jobs to go before refloating...
Scurvy Dog
New member
Hi, we have started a Bowman Owners group on Yahoo. http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/bowmanyachts Looking for shared experiences, info etc. Jeff
Storyline
New member
Always worth keeping a couple of different sized pullers on a boat - cheap and can make seemingly impossible jobs easy