Sharing my experience pulling a 91 steering wheel

[DioGreer]

A couple of weeks ago, my left turn signal stopped automatically turning off after a turn was made. I assumed the problem to be the plastic cancelling cam. Today I go to the dealer and get a new cancelling cam for $18.39 including tax. I also stop by advance auto parts to pick up a steering wheel puller for about $15. I looked in the haynes manual for the procedure to pull a steering wheel and get to the cancelling cam, but was stupid not to check my service manual I got off ebay a few months back for a more detailed procedure.

After getting the airbag off, and the wheel pulled with no problems, the retaining ring holding on the airbag coil was a pain to remove, but didnt take too long. Then the surprise came. I needed a special tool to compress the spring behind the shaft lock plate in order to have access to remove the other retaining ring for the shaft lock. Luckily, my dad performed this same procedure on a 78 olds cutlass about 20 years ago and had a jig he made to help compress the spring. After a small modification to make it work for me, I start to remove the second retaining ring. It is a real pain to move, but then I get it and the shaft lock plate off.

Now I replace the cancelling cam and put everything back together. Does it work? No. Apparently while I was in there, I should have taken a better look to see if anything else looked bad. After getting everything back off (easier this time, i'm getting good), I notice the spring for the left turn canceller is broken. Damn. Now its after 5pm and all the dealers parts departments are closed for the weekend. Luckily the nearby junkyard is open until 6pm, so I haul ass over there and get into a 92 lesabre that I had pulled a side mirror off of a couple of months earlier. The wheel and everything else comes off smoothly and I get my prized spring. I make it back and put it all together and it works great.

Looking back, it didnt go too bad, but if youre looking to work inside the steering column, make sure you get a wheel puller and something to compress that shaft lock plate, and check everything out before re-assembling it all.