[Newsman]

I'm aware that the PVC coupler is very likely to fail at some point

and in the meantime either buying a sturdier "sleeve" for the 3 puller arms to grab onto,

Hopefully the PVC will do the job, but like you say a sturdier sleeve, like the piece of pipe that utradog showed in his post would certainly do the job. Time and patience will eventually get it done. Good luck.
MikeC

 

[Nouveau Redneck]

Most penetrating oils like PB Blast and Kroil use a combination of Acetone plus petroleum based lubricants. The acetone is super thin and helps to wick thhe lubriaant into tight spaces and it evaporates fairy quickly.

 

[MARK (LI)]

I am pretty sure that the acetone won't cause any problem ...and it you apply it with something somewhat carefully it will just come in contact with the metal to metal surface that is giving you a problem..I think you will crush the pvc with the amount of pressure that you need ..I use this to squirt the ATF on

 

[wknecht]

Hopefully the PVC will do the job, but like you say a sturdier sleeve, like the piece of pipe that utradog showed in his post would certainly do the job. Time and patience will eventually get it done. Good luck.
MikeC

Thanks. Right -- sturdier sleeve. The difficulty in this particular case is that the jaws of the gear-puller have to have enough surface area to make contact with both the jaws and the bottom of the steering wheel. The Ideal Sleeve would be something about twice as thick as 2" ID Schedule 40 pipe -- around 5/16" or thicker. McMaster-Carr is the place to check. They have nearly everything, although at high prices. Yeah...$71 plus S/H for one foot of Schedule 80 steel pipe, 2" ID. Forget that. Maybe I could find large, thick washers to weld onto a 2" S40 metal nipple... Yoickes, M-C wants $23+ for a single giant steel washer...

This looks much more promising (or something like it -- steel bushing from Lowes)

Push comes to shove, I'll probably have to go with 1/4" thick metal plate, and fashion something of that.

 

[wknecht]

OK, I've been PB Blasting this thing, and cranking up the pressure on the gear puller for a week now, and nothing's giving. This has gone way past bedtime here. Tomorrow I'm going to try to call our local F/NH dealer & talk with a mechanic, to see if there's some kind of trick involved here (like maybe the wheel screws off instead of pulling off??). I can literally feel a bit of play in rocking the wheel back and forth, yet it simply won't budge otherwise.

Meanwhile, I have a dumb-newbie question: What's the difference between a service manual, a repair manual, and a shop manual? I read several incomprehensible things online and walked away confused. I bought a 700+ page PDF thing called "5610S, 6610S, 7610S, 7010, 8010 REPAIR MANUAL". It has beaucoup stuff in it, even wiring diagrams -- but not one word about how to remove a steering wheel. What kind of manual would have the absolute most-detailed descriptions of every conceivable thing that could ever need repair, and tell step-by-step exactly how to deal with it? That's the kind of manual I apparently need.

 

[Nouveau Redneck]

The parts diagram shows the shaft has straight splines, so it should pull straight off.

 

[wknecht]

The parts diagram shows the shaft has straight splines, so it should pull straight off.

Your parts catalog must be better than mine, because mine doesn't show a close-up of the splined shaft. But, it finally dawned on me to price out a new steering wheel, part no. D7NN3600A. $33. So, if I wreck mine, it should be no big deal.

OK, today is -7F wind chill. As soon as it warms up just a bit, I'm going out there & torque the bejaysus outta that thing & see what happens.

AND -- Newbie Me just got a valuable lesson in just how essential a parts catalog is !

 

[Nouveau Redneck]

It's not a very good picture in the parts diagram that I'm looking at either, but it does show a shaded rough area below the threads for the nut, and from experience with other Ford models and their parts drawwings, I'm pretty sure that means that it has splines. If it had another set of threads then it would clearly show that since it shows the threads at the top of the shaft for the nut to screw onto.

 

[wknecht]

Update: I finally got the steering wheel off, using a method posted on Yesterday's Tractors by "Ultradog" here . I used a 3-jaw gear puller, a 1/4" ratchet with cheater bar, and a split section of 2" ID steel pipe (be advised that PVC pipe, while cheaper, can't handle the pressures involved. And, the wheel itself ended up damaged, so you might want to figure on buying a replacement)

 

[wknecht]

Well, I got the steering wheel off (using Ultradog's Method), and the throttle lever off , and the rusted-on, broken-off end of the muffler that was preventing removing the engine cowling, which itself was preventing seeing what was going on with some of the wiring.

But, now I can't figure out how to get the final, back cowling off that contains the instrument panel. That needs to come off so I can expose the wiring to the instrument cluster & repair that. There are two bolts visible that obviously had to come off. But, there's something hidden underneath that final cowling that's keeping it from coming off.

 

[Nouveau Redneck]

Does it still have the lower sheet metal cowling below the instrument panel/dashboard tin? If so , that has to come off first.

 

[wknecht]

Does it still have the lower sheet metal cowling below the instrument panel/dashboard tin? If so , that has to come off first.

I'm not sure exactly what you mean. Here's a picture I just took of that cowling (apparently called the "rear hood"). There was one bolt at the top-front (yellow, unfilled arrow), two bolts at the bottom-front, on both L and R sides (yellow, unfilled oval). Removing those 5 bolts wasn't enough to get that rear hood off.

On a hunch, today I looked up underneath there, on the INSIDE, hidden, where the orange, filled arrow is, and could see a bracket with two bolts that looks like it might have to be undone. There's another on the R side.

I should try undoing those 4 bolts to see what happens, and then report back. Will do this, as soon as it warms up enough to work outside again. Thanks for following all this.

 

[Newsman]

As I'm sure you realize that you also have to disconnect any knobs, levers and wires attached to that piece.
MikeC

 

[wknecht]

As I'm sure you realize that you also have to disconnect any knobs, levers and wires attached to that piece.
MikeC

You bet. Naturally, given the way things have been going, I'm expecting the light switch knob to break when I try taking it off. We'll see, once it warms up outside a bit.

 

[RT3360]

Working on repairs of any kind, I’ve always found that knowing how something goes together and where all the fasteners are makes any repair much easier. But rusted fasteners and parts always increase the frustration.

 

[wknecht]

Working on repairs of any kind, I’ve always found that knowing how something goes together and where all the fasteners are makes any repair much easier. But rusted fasteners and parts always increase the frustration.

Roger that. Sadly, "basic" info like "remove the rear hood" seems absent from repair manuals. I have the parts manual, the operator's manual, the Clymer ("IT") shop manual, and the 700-pp OEM shop manual, and, although "rear hood" is mentioned a dozen times, nowhere does it fully explain how to get that sucker off.

This kind of problem is common in the world, isn't it. Experts take for granted certain basic knowledge when they really shouldn't. I'm a retired research psychologist & have seen tons of math papers that seemed to literally take pride in leaving out critical steps, on the assumption that "If you're one of us, you were either taught this, or you figured it out on your own. If you haven't, you can't be part of our Boys' Club." Very arrogant & elitist. Thank heavens for forums like this one, and guys like all of you all here! I'm no fool. If something looks WAY beyond me, I'll send it in to the shop. But, my Daddy raised me to at least take a look at it first, and give it a try, just to see if fixing it myself is possible. Point of pride, that's just what a man does. Of course, it's harder nowadays, because things are more complicated, and some even designed to be impossible for us to fix. So, the Modern Man has to not only be Handy, he has to Know His Limitations (like Dirty Harry said in "Magnum Force").

 

[wknecht]

On the INSIDE, hidden, where the orange, filled arrow is, and could see a bracket with two bolts that looks like it might have to be undone. There's another on the R side. I should try undoing those 4 bolts to see what happens, and then report back. Will do this, as soon as it warms up enough to work outside again. Thanks for following all this.

It's warmer today, so I removed those 4 bolts, and undid the nuts holding the ignition key & light-control switches, and pried off the black light switch handle (it popped right out). And, I removed the fuel tank cap. BUT -- the darned hood still doesn't want to come off.

 

[wknecht]

It turns out that there are two vertical bolts --way up inside there underneath the rear of the rear hood, attached to the "yoke" (part no. E8TZ3Q540AA) that also involves those 4 bolts just mentioned. The nuts on those vertical bolts have to be removed, and that finally frees up the rear hood. Two switches have to be disconnected, though -- the horn switch and the 4WD selector switch. Most of the connectors just wiggle off, but there's a ganged connector that plugs into the 4WD switch that has a locking tab that has to be pushed off sideways. It's a bit hard to describe, but easy to figure out if you push the hood up high enough to be able to see the back of that 4WD switch.

 

[Nouveau Redneck]

Glad to hear you got it licked. Thanks for reporting back with the details. Hopefully it will help someone with a similar issue in the future.

 

[wknecht]

Hopefully it will help someone with a similar issue in the future.

And, thanks to you folks for help & encouragement. Old tractors are a metaphor for life itself -- not impossibly complicated, but often discouragingly so, and requiring intelligence and perseverance to deal with properly.

Decade of experience with DIY projects prompted me, a long time ago, to come up with Knecht's Law: "If any DIY project costs less than twice as much, and takes less than three times as long to do as you originally thought it would -- you're par for the course."