Steering wheel nut stuck

I've been trying to recenter the steering wheel on the Samurai (the only way to do it is to actually reposition the steering wheel itself) and of course the only nut involved is stuck. The repair manual says to lock the steering wheel and have a go at it, but I doubt they had a really good idea of how stuck a nut can be. I'm worried I could damage the steering wheel lock mechanism or even the parts that the steering shaft mounts to with the insane amount of force that will be required. Should I just put loads of force into it or what?

pneumatic impact gun.

I always need one of those :(

How stuck are we talking? I was able to get the one on the Miata off w/ an electric impact pretty easily.

Well it took two people but the nut is free. Unfortunately, now the wheel is stuck to the shaft. I sprayed penetrating oil (yeah right) into the splines and put it back together. I'll have to pick up a steering wheel puller and try again, I just hope it will be able to exert enough force to break this thing loose.

you can try treading the nut back on a couple turns, then grabbing the rim of the steering wheel and pulling like hell back and forth. They're usually pretty well stuck on. You can do this with the nut off still I suppose, but you run a high risk of punching yourself right in the face. Don't ask me how I know.

Sometimes its really hard to bust that nut. Although I have done it a few times in my car.

yeah watch your mouth when jerking it off. It hurts getting knocked in the teeth.

tee hee

Why not realign the front end so everybody is off center and the steering wheel is straight?

Dan

. Normally you can center the wheel by adjusting the tie rods.

I have needed a steering wheel puller twice lately, and both times the one borrowed from AutoZone worked just fine. On the CRX I was able to easily attach it to the stock wheel; on the Miata I had to fudge things a bit.

It's usually the nut that's behind the wheel that's the problem

atlantamx3 wrote: Sometimes its really hard to bust that nut. Although I have done it a few times in my car.

Come on, everyone knows that the perfect tool for a stuck nut is a shotgun.

Come on, everyone knows that the perfect tool for a stuck nut is a shotgun.

But seriously, the steering wheel being off center is a sign of toe problems, and changing where it is centered on the shaft is just covering that up.

No?

I hate sticky nuts.

The alignment feels fine and the adjustment points are pretty evenly set, but the previous owner had a wonky alignment setup to compensate for the worn-out suspension, so now that has to be corrected.

Ahhh.