Have an older Murray Wide body riding mower (model 40507x8a) and am in process of rebuilding and restoring it. The steering wheel is held to a splined shaft by a 1/4 / 20 small bolt and washer. Have removed bolt but can not remove the steering wheel from the shaft. Been soaking in various rust busters, oils etc. off and on over the last year. Got it to move about 3/8 inch with a pretty heavy puller and with a 3/4 inch 3 ft breaker bar. But can not get to move any further. Even a heavy duty impact wrench stalled. Been looking at all the various posts about this problem everywhere and I thnk I'm going to have to do what many have ultimately ended up do, which is to cutt off the steering wheel and buying a new one. Since this is a plastic steering wheel on a metal splined shaft I wonder if anyone has found some kind of "secret" anti-zeize chemical that could work better with this plaastic that is sorta welded to the metal shaft.
Steering wheel seized on shaft
- Thread starter Rich A
- Start date
sgkent
Lawn Addict
Liquid wrench is what I use. Are you able to heat the steel some without damaging the plastic? I wish there was a picture so those of us who rely on the Internet to advise could see what you are up against.
If it looks like this generic wheel in an Internet search, I would use a bearing separator that fits behind the wheel, and a socket that fits inside the shaft housing on the wheel at the top. Then put a two jaw bearing puller on the socket and the jaws on the bearing separator. If that doesn't do it, nothing will. You have pulled the long bolt and nut that would clamp this to the shaft. Lots of used ones on Ebay. That is where this image came from. Don't cheap out on a bearing puller because the steel is too soft on those to be of value. I would also use the bearing splitter upside down for max straight pull and make sure it is pulling against the steel and not the plastic.
If it looks like this generic wheel in an Internet search, I would use a bearing separator that fits behind the wheel, and a socket that fits inside the shaft housing on the wheel at the top. Then put a two jaw bearing puller on the socket and the jaws on the bearing separator. If that doesn't do it, nothing will. You have pulled the long bolt and nut that would clamp this to the shaft. Lots of used ones on Ebay. That is where this image came from. Don't cheap out on a bearing puller because the steel is too soft on those to be of value. I would also use the bearing splitter upside down for max straight pull and make sure it is pulling against the steel and not the plastic.
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Thanks for the quick reply and pictures. Been using a heavy duty puller but lost the bearing separator part. So I'm having problems getting a good physical connection and was afraid to heat the shaft and possibly melt the plastic steering wheel. I found and ordered a new bearing separator and hope that will enable me to get this steering wheel off the shaft. Almost 60 years ago I worked for a while in a repair shop on all kinds of tractors, mowers and other gas powered things. Have used gear separators and usually just a tap of a hammer to pull apart everything from axles and gears "and" steering wheels hundreds of times .. and now at 80 years old I seemed to have finally found something I can't pull apart. Thanks for pics. That bearing separator might allow me to get a better pull on the darn thing. Thanks for the "memory jog" .. <grin> Things certainly changed a bit in the last 60 plus years.
I’m guessing that rust buildup in the splines is stopping you from removing the wheel. I suggest that you hammer the wheel back down that 3/8”, spray with rust buster, and then using your puller bring it back up again. You may only gain 1/16” each time, which means multiple, multiple attempts to get it all the way off. I’ve run into this many times over the years and have found Kroil penetrating oil works best. Plus patience is your best friend.
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