Hesitent to use a Impact Gun on the Steering Wheel

[jsoto]

Way back.....when I 1st got the X, I did the steering wheel mod.
Somehow I messed up.....clock spring came out....I wound it back but I must have f'ed up. Got the steering wheel back on, ABS light on....dealer ended up changing out the clock spring.

Fast forward today.
I went to do a steering wheel swap.
I think the gent might have used some red loctite on it cause the nut is NOT budging. I stepped it up to a 3/8 to a 1/2 ratchet.....and that nut is NOT moving. I'm hesitant to take the impact gun to it, but meThinks I may have to do this.


No harm no foul right ?

[Bayerische E53]

Impact should be fine. FWIW, I used an impact to remove my steering wheel on my E46 - everything was fine. An impact gun will probably put less stress on the steering column lock than using an extension. The impact will break any loctite that's on there very quickly and without hassle whereas an extension will ease into it, making it more difficult to overcome the "glue" (if, in fact, the tech. did use loctite) and therefore put more stress on the column. I don't think you'd harm anything but ... (mandatory liability waiver) you do this at your own risk.

[jsoto]

Heh. The lesser of 2 evils. I had the 18 inch breaker on it, and holding the steering wheel within reason on the other hand......before I got uncomfortable on the force required while holding the steering wheel back. It definitely wasn't this tight when I removed it the 1st time around.

BTW, Bayerische, did you delete your other post on that Alignment thread...
I thought it was a good read, came back to *sponge it in* and your post was gone.

[upallnight]

If you have a heat gun you can use a little heat before attempting to loosen the nut, heat will normally break the loctite grip. You can monitor the heat with an infrared thermometer.

[jsoto]

I'm terrible with that......I've got a fancy one that has digital temp.

With my luck and that damm previous clock spring on that last attempt, before you know it, I'll either be melting/bubbling some trim, some jacket insulation on some wiring on the collar, eh.

Love me a fresh new steering wheel ;-0

[Bayerische E53]

Originally Posted by jsoto

Heh. The lesser of 2 evils. I had the 18 inch breaker on it, and holding the steering wheel within reason on the other hand......before I got uncomfortable on the force required while holding the steering wheel back. It definitely wasn't this tight when I removed it the 1st time around.

BTW, Bayerische, did you delete your other post on that Alignment thread...
I thought it was a good read, came back to *sponge it in* and your post was gone.

Hi, J.

Holding the wheel won't do anything. Even if you could use a ratchet to break the bolt off, you'd need to let the column lock take the stress. I've used a 24" breaker to take my bolt out and it didn't hurt the column lock. Try again letting the column lock take the stress. If you can't do it within reason (you should be able to put 150 ft/lbs on the lock without hurting it), use an impact.

You could try using a heat gun as it probably won't hurt anything but it probably won't help much if at all. If the tech. used loctite blue, then the heat gun would help but won't really make a worthwhile difference because blue isn't that strong. On the other hand, if he used loctite red, you'd need a torch because a heat gun won't produce enough heat to break the red (and let's face it, using a torch in that area would just be fatuous). Now, if he just over-torqued the bolt, you'll just need a little leverage or an impact.

In other words, as I said in the beginning, try using a breaker bar while letting the wheel rest on the column lock (it won't do anything to the clock spring). If that doesn't work, step up to the impact. To minimize the risk of damage to the column lock when using an impact, use your free hand to turn the wheel counter-clockwise and hold it on the column lock so that the motion of the impact gun doesn't slam the wheel against it.

And, yes, I deleted my post in the alignment thread. In retrospect, I was a bit hasty and hostile to the other poster in the thread so I went ahead and PMed him and deleted it. If you have any alignment questions you could PM me and I'd be happy to answer your questions.

[bcredliner]

Suggest you use a breaker bar or torque wrench long enough so you can get some leverage. Sit in seat, put your knees and your right hand on the steering and offset the created torque from the wrench when you pull down. That way you won't take the chance of hurting anything and if the nut doesn't break loose you either need to do some weight lifting or get a bigger wrench There is no locktite that is designed strong enough to withstand more than the appropriate wrench on that size nut and shaft.

[Bayerische E53]

^I'd have to humbly disagree with you. If it's indeed over-torqued, it's going to be incredibly difficult to break that nut loose by offsetting the torque with your hands clocking the wheel the opposite way. And if Red Loctite is involved, you might as well forget it. I had a nightmare of a time getting studs off my E46's hubs that were installed with Red Loctite - they required tons of torching and we actually had to scrap one hub and replace it entirely.

Of course, that's assuming that the tech. used Red Loctite and used far too much of it.

I still submit that OP's most realistic way of trying would be first to use a breaker while resting the torque on the column lock or take an impact to it.

I guess OP will let us know how it goes...

[jsoto]

I ended up just using the impact. Less force on the column.

I MIGHT have swung it with a breaker bar - but would have really attempted this with a pair of 2nd hands holding the steering wheel. I was using quite a bit of force going in both directions - one trying to crack the nut while the other was holding the steering wheel. Enough to know that with the amount of force I was using, I would have preferred someone holding the steering wheel even more...

I don't know what the dealer tech used to tighten the nut up. Regardless, I should presume/assume he would have used proper procedures and in theory proper torque with no red loctite, but eh, one should never assume right ?

[Bayerische E53]

That's great to hear, OP. Did you get everything sorted properly? Did you check to make sure the column lock is still operating properly? Did your clock spring come out alright?

Finally, what steering wheel did you get?