955 steering wheel removal

[brain55]

Just how in the bloody heck are you suppose to remove the steering wheel? It has now provisions for attaching a puller to the wheel. Of course, the service manual is no help... it simple states "remove steering wheel".

I tried sitting on the tractor with my knees under the steering wheel pushing up, one hand on the wheel pulling up, and smacking the end of the shaft (with the nut on but backed off to protect the threads) as hard as I dared to keep from mangling the end of the shaft.


Anyone have any tips for tricks that have worked for them?

Not that you need the help now. But here are some pics of the right tool for the job.

Brian

 

[Mechanos]

That's a very good question! I wish I knew.

I have had 4 955s, and 3 I extensively rebuilt. I never got the steering
wheels off, despite several attempts. I decided to work around the
attached wheels. On other tractors, like my JD 4300, it was no problem
getting the wheel off.

In this photo, you can see that the column goes thru the instrument
bezel and there are no good purchase points. The pullers I have did not
do the job....I did not want to damage the wheel.

If you get the wheel off, report it here. Good luck.

Well, I got the steering wheels off my 955 and my 855 today. I used a center punch to put a small dimple in the center of the steering shaft. Then, I put a bearing splitter around the steering tube up against the bottom of the steering wheel. I used a 2-jaw puller (pilot point in the dimple on the shaft) to pull up on the bearing splitter. Tightened up the 2-jaw puller nice and tight and then tapped downward on the lead screw to send some shockwaves through everything. This caused the splines to pop loose so I could use the puller to finish removing the wheel.

Did the same thing on the 855, but it was a lot more rusted. I had to smack upwards on the bearing splitter (under tension from the puller) pretty hard a couple times to get it to pop loose.

 

[dfkrug]

But here are some pics of the right tool for the job.

That looks like the right puller, Brian.

The John Deere logo cap that goes over the center nut does serve a
purpose: keeping the wheel from rusting itself onto the column.

Congratulations to all who persisted and removed their wheels.