Steering wheel removal

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MarineA

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27 Dec 2011
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Hello all,

i want to change my steering wheels. The boat is a 1990 Fairline 41/43 flybridge with the usual Fairline "Cortina" type wheels. I removed the central cover and undid the nut, however the wheel feels pretty well secured on - are there any other nuts, pins, grub screws or anything else etc...that i need to remove to release release the wheel?

If not, what is the best way to persuade it off the spindle please?

thanks in advance for any answers
 
An alternative to a puller (and more effective in my experience) is to exert pressure to pull the wheel, perhaps with your knees behind it, and to use a metal drift and hammer to give the top of the spindle a sharp blow (very sharp - don’t be shy). I was struggling to remove a wheel with puller so I sought the advice of a local marine engineer. It came off after the second or third blow. Might be a two person job if you can’t get your knees behind the wheel.
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If it is very cold weather, then a hot air paint stripper played on the wheel hub, but not the shaft. The idea is to expand the wheel hub by heat whilst the shaft remains cold, then apply the tug and sharp shock as described, although I would use a puller, prelosded before the heat is applied.
 
Mr Googler said:
I’ve had success with both methods. Puller was the least scary ?
Click to expand...

If a puller works then all good - I think the pull and hammer method is the one that will probably work when the puller won’t. It is a little scary! ?
 
Hope you have had success. I trashed the shaft by using a puller on my wheel. After taking off the nut, it was obviously on a taper, so when it did not tap off I applied a puller which located into the indent at the end of the shaft. It split the shaft after tensioning. A very close look identified a pin that was flush with the wheel boss, at the forward edge next tot he binnacle. This was very tight but a few smart taps with a drift drove it out, a light tap on the boss and wheel came off the taper. After removal the wheel also had a woodruff key. The moral of the story is check all over before you give it any force, it should not be that tight, I would have thought. I cut the split part off and dressed the remaining threads with a file, and just got away with it.
 
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