teloscopic steering wheel stuck

[dqdave1]

I can not turn the center of the wheel to raise or lower the steering wheel. Disassembled center of wheel to expose small nut ; removed it to expose another larger nut; all seem to be rusted and froze up; penetrating oil did not work; any help?

 

[Dano50]

Try Fluid Film . Just give it time to soak in.

 

[djradz]

This is a known, reoccuring problem folks frequently have posted on here. Try a search, or maybe someone who has had it happen can comment. If I recall, the fix is not cheap.

 

[DocHeb]

7. Water getting into tilt-wheel mechanism/piston causing failure.
Steering wheel shock gave out
Tilt Steering - Gas Out - I witnessed it just now.
Anatomy of NH pn86522914 - Tilt Steering Gas Shock.
Frozen Tilt Steering on TC40D

 

[djradz]

Doc, not sure, but I think he's referring to a problem with the telescoping of the height/lenght of the steering shaft, not the tilting of the entire mechanism. Not sure if all the Boomers have this feature, but on my 40D, if you turn the large plastic knob, with the NH emblem in the middle of it, you can release the mechanism (not the tilt mechanism) and pull up or push down on the steering wheel to raise or lower it's height.

Mine started to stick (like I think others have) and so I took off the emblem and put plenty of WD40, first, and then, some gear lube, in the area of the two nuts, he's referring to. Thing has operated correctly since. Looks like water would lay in this spot too, (like the cylinder problem) and rust till it seizes.

 

[dqdave1]

You are correct; I have replaced the gas cylinder twice already; but now it is the teloscopic portion that is frozen. I tried what you did with no help. Afraid to snap off stud.

 

[Tazz]

Mine got stuck too but it was on the loose side and was difficult to tighten.
I removed the 13mm (small) nut ), sprayed LPS oil on the threaded post then worked the post by turning it with an adjustable wrench. Just go very easy on it so you don't bugger up the threads.
One more thing I learned during re-assembly is rotate the grip knob counter-clockwise and hold it tight when tightening the small nut. Otherwise that nut and shaft will tighten the column down to the point where you can't loosen it by hand.