Steering wheel replacement

Hi everyone,

I have just replaced my turn signal switch and am having trouble getting everything back together. The switch is in and works, and I am now trying to get that plate and snap right back on. I can't seem to get it pushed down far enough to click the snap ring in. I hear there is a tool that pulls up on the shaft while pushing down on the snap ring. Is this needed or does anyone have a way of doing this?

I have noticed that the shaft on our broom is the perfect diameter to fit over the steering shaft. I was thinking that if I cut a few inches off of that, and put it on the steering shaft, then wound the wheel nut back on, it might accomplish the same thing as the tool, but I just wonder if anyone else knows of a way to do this before I give that a try.

Thanks for the help!

What you are looking for is called a "lock plate compressor", and yes, it is needed to reinstall the retainer. Parts store may sell them, should not be too pricey.

Great, thank you very much. I will have to pick one of those up soon for the next time I do one of these. I was running out of daylight, so I ended up using a piece of the broom handle and the steering wheel nut to get things back together. I'm not a fan of doing things this way, but the car had to be back together for tomorrow so I did what I had to do. It actually worked very well, but the proper tool would still be nice to have. I'm sure things could have gone bad and damaged something with the way I did it.

Thanks for the help.

I'm about to change out my turn signal mechanism also and would like to know a little more detail of how you accomplished getting your steering back together. and what troubles you ran into during the process. Things that I might look for to avoid problems.
Thanks Rex

I found this video to be very helpful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzzcVeLOp_c

The only issues I ran into while doing this was that the snap rings were a little difficult to remove without proper snap ring plyers. I would for sure go pick up a pair of these if I was going to do the job over again.

The next issue, and it is noted in the video, is when removing the small piece of plastic to disconnect the horn, there is a small tooth like piece that breaks off easily. Even after being warned in the video, I still accidentally broke this piece, but I got lucky and the horn still works anyway.

The last issue was getting that snap ring back in place. I would also go and buy this tool if I was going to do this job again. I was lucky enough to have that piece of broom handle work, but I'm sure something could have gone wrong doing it this way.

The video pretty much walks you through the whole process start to finish (except about how difficult getting the snap ring back in is) and is really accurate. Pulling the wires through the steering column and feeding the new ones back through can be a little difficult too, but its not that bad.

I think that is about all I can remember in terms of trouble areas and helpful tips. Good luck and please let me know if you run into any issues.

You can also rent a steering wheel plate compressor tool/kit from Autozone's Loaner tool program for about $5. Well worth the nominal expense. It makes the removal and installation a breeze.

http://tss.likeabigdog.com/

If you have the right tools shouldn't take no time! Took me about 45min to replace my turn signal switch! :biggrin: