Removing steering wheel help

[SPYDER]

Ok so I need some outside the box thinking cause I'm out of ideas....I'm trying to remove the steering wheel on my 99 TJ.   It has 2 threaded holes to put bolts in and use as a puller to remove.   I have the tool and ripped the treads out of both holes.   I've tried a 2 jaw and 3 jaw puller.  I've tried cutting the wheel to relieve the tension on the splines but burnt up the dremel before I got thru.   I've tried multiple bfh's.  What the hell.....




Tomorrow when I go back to the garage, I'm gonna try drilling out the holes completely and putting nuts behind the wheel so the puller can't pull out.  But does anybody have any other suggestions to try?  If I can't get it off by Sunday, I'm gonna pull the whole column and bring it to work where I have more tools but that's my last resort.   HELP!!!!

[Twisty]

Is it a factory wheel?  Did you take the nut off first?

[SPYDER]

Yes and yes.  And for the record...I have already destroyed the clock spring and I don't care about the wheel so I'm not opposed to the cut off wheel I just need to save the columns, splines and threads at the end for the adapter I have for my new wheel and disconnect

[Axle]

bfh

[jerry k]

He's already tried multiple bfh's. Did you try them all at the same time ?

[SPYDER]

Lol.  No.  Worked my way up in size.

[jerry k]

Have you tried shaking the jeep upside down ?

[rich]

Have you tried shaking the jeep upside down ?

While upside down try a bfh

[jps4jeep]

Quick Ideas off the top of my head.

-weld some nuts to the wheel and use those with a puller.
-drill and tap the holes one size up or metric
-3 jaw puller
-remove steering column and start from scratch

[Ian]

did you use an actuall steerting wheel puller? some times a slow even pull is better than a massive force to one side or the other

[Axle]

when i do a wheel, I use a puller, put some tension on it, and hit the middle to shock it loose, never failed.

[SPYDER]

Yes I used a puller.  Can't weld to the wheel, not really sure what it is but it's definitely not steel.  I've pulled probably a 1000 wheels over my career and have never had this issue.  I'm beting the previous owner didn't reinstall it correctly and just jammed it on without lining up the splines.


i can't afford to pull the column and start over, brand new column is over $1000 if you can still get it and used ones are still stupid expensive.  If I have to go that way, a lot of other changes will have to be made that I can't afford.

[jps4jeep]

Is this for your street TJ or the Truggy?  If the truggy, pull that off and just build a column with some D-bar- U-joints and tube

[Twisty]

Why do you need to remove it?  What is it not doing now that you need?  I say bring the rig and wheel it as is.

[SPYDER]

It's for the truggy.   Cause unfortunately I need to keep the ignition side of it cause the jeep has skim.  Well until I can figure out how to remove it.  Which as of now would mean brand new pcm and bcm


It's a pain to get in and out with the way the door bars are setup and the seat as close as it is.  Without the wheel there it'll be a lot easier.  And at this point the wheel is junk and needs to be removed.  This is not what is keeping me from wheeling it, lack of fuel cell and upper control arms at the moment is its immobility issue.  Have the joints for the arms just need to reinstall. And still trying to figure out what I'm doing for a fuel cell.