Steering wheel broken, and will NOT come off.

[gotime242]

Lately the steering wheel on my 89 osprey 200 has become very loose. So i took the center cap off to see if i could tighten anything up at all. It looked like the steering mechanism is ok (little play but not the most of it) and that it is the steering wheel itself that is starting to come apart. Seems like where the spokes go in, the welds are broken or something.

So i got a wheel/gear pulled and the wheel just wont come off. It is deforming/screwing up the shaft/bolt before the wheel will pull off.

Anyone have any ideas?

[dbiscayne]

spray some PB Blaster or other penetrating oil onto the shaft/nut, let it sit overnight, then if you can put some heat onto the shaft/nut & some more penetrating oil (the hot parts will help draw the oil into the threads).
Now once you've got the puller on the wheel again & tension on everything, & the puller shaft is lined up with the steering shaft, hit the end of the puller thats pushing down on the shaft with a good size hammer, that should pop it loose.

[thill]

Once that screw starts to deform, you usually can't get the nut back on.  You could try to fix it with a Dremel and a small wheel, but that's tough to do.

You probably need a new helm.   Do you know what type of steering you have?  Teleflex?  The Rack?  4.2?  NFB?

I have a complete steering system I'm about to put on ebay.  It's nice, but out of a ski boat, so it's got a sportster-type steering wheel.  Let me know if you need it or any parts.  It's a teleflex Rack-type.

Best wishes on getting it done without messing up your current helm.

-TH