TVR GRIFFITH STEERING WHEEL PULLER
I needed to remove the steering wheel. Steve Heath's manual suggested 5 to 10 minutes tugging would eventually remove it. Well perhaps Steve has muscles like Popeye but no amount of my pulling and swearing would budge it. Reading Piston heads TVR Forum several others seem to have had a problem. The limited access prevents even a thin bearing puller from locating behind the steering wheel boss. It has been suggested that a blow with a hammer on the end of the steering shaft while also pullling the wheel would shift it, but as Steve points out this may well damage the compressable washer within the column.The solution, make a special puller: The tool is easily made. I borrowed the centre bolt from a standard hub puller (mine was Metric 12 x1.75 mm). A piece of scrap 1/4" steel plate was marked out using the Griffith Personal steering wheel as a template. The wheel inner locates on the raised edge of the boss so the puller plate needs to be grooved to fit over this raised edge. I used a milling machine but this could easily be profiled on a lathe. Six holes were drilled for fixing and a suitable 12 x 1.75 mm nut was tack welded to the plate to finish.
The puller is bolted to the boss instead of the steering wheel using 20mm long 5mm hexagon headed bolts (the steering wheel bolts are too short and will strip the boss threads if used. Removal took about 10 seconds with no effort or dramas. On inspection, the splines on the tapered shaft of the steering column were corroded. this probably helped the boss to stick rather more securely.