Replacing steering wheel

Unknown
edited November -1 in HUDSON
I have a 1950 commodore 6 supermatic and need to replace the steering wheel. It has been destroyed, and I need advice on removing it. Anything will help.

Comments

  • Jon B
    Jon B Administrator
    Someone (more knowlegeable than I!) will jump in here with precisely the right information, but for the time being...



    1) You understand that the horn button must first be removed and than the large nut that holds the wheel to the steering shaft, unscrewed. Right?



    2) In many older cars you had to press down on the horn button and twist it maybe 1/4 turn to release it. In others, there was screw or bolt holding it from behind; look or feel around the back of the steering wheel for a hole and then insert a regular or phillips screwdriver.
  • MikeWA
    MikeWA Senior Contributor
    I do more tractor restoration than cars, and the biggest problem is the steering wheel rusted onto the splined shaft. Steering wheel puller sometimes works, but I don't recall whether the Hudson wheel has threaded holes for a puller. Best tip I've seen is - after you have removed the horn button and the nut, get another nut the same size, and weld a ball bearing (thats bigger than the inside of the nut) to the nut, then thread the nut on, with the ball bearing on top, and screw it down until the ball bearing is tight on the end of the steering shaft. Rap it smartly with a hammer a couple of times, then spray Kroil or PB Blaster, then whack again. This will usually bust it loose, so you can pull it off. The ball bearing (contacting only the center of the shaft) seems to transmit the impulse to the splines better than a "sacrificial nut" partially screwed on the shaft, and without wrecking the threads.
  • Supermatic, Some of the 1950 production had two threaded holes on the center of the steering wheel hub. Others of the same vintage did not. If you have the threaded ones a conventional wheel puller can be employed to remove the wheel. If you have the earlier production models , you need a special wheel puller just as you do for the 48-9 models. Some of the alternate suggestions presented here may work just as well.
  • Uncle Josh
    Uncle Josh Senior Contributor
    You have to have an adapter to get up inside the back of the wheel to contact the metal. I had my local machinist make one with the inside diameter just larger than the steering column, and the top OD just smaller than the plastic wheel diameter at the back, and the lower end large enough so I could pull against it with a big 2-legged puller, and then cut it in two so it could be placed around the column and up inside the wheel. I held it together with a hose clamp.



    Then loosened the nut on the front of the wheel but left it on a few threads, (so the wheel doesn't decapitate ya when it breaks loose) and the puller pushes on the end of the steering shaft and pulls on the adapter. Wouldn't hurt to juice it for a few days with penetrating oil (or water) to eat the rust, and it should pull right off.
  • I have an early 1950's steering wheel puller kit that was made by Snap On Tools. It can be used on most cars from that period including Hudsons. I purchased it complete with metal box (it's quite heavy) and adapters on Ebay. It seems these Snap On wheel pullers show up on Ebay fairly often for around $80.00. Buy one, use it and then put it back for bid on Ebay and either get most of your money back, all of it, or even make a buck or two.



    Dan
  • Thanks guys, whats left of the wheel is mostly plastic and three rods so I am in for fun. This is my first Hudson and it has been a learnig experience.
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