eyh !

wanna change the steeringwheel of my Cutty-81 but I'm at a dead end after dismantling the hubcap and nut. Do I need a special tool for the removal itself?

 

It's called a steering wheel puller. Either buy or rent one.

 

When I was young and broke, I used to bear hug the wheels under the spokes and rock left to right and right to left while pulling upward... It worked 9 out of 10 times... the cars were younger then too though!

 

Check it out!

http://www.jcwhitney.com/webapp/wcs/...atalogId=10101

 

If your like me, now that you're old and broke you buy a steering wheel puller......

 

That puller looks heavier duty than the one I bought last summer, thats a good price.

 

Like Joe said you can always rent one at your local auto parts store. At least you can here in the US. Unfotunately, sometimes the steering wheel pullers are missing the bolts you need to get the steering wheel off.

 

Strangely enough I pulled mine last night to replace the key cylinder. I tried the bear hug routine and then broke down and got my puller... The puller worked in a heartbeat.

I used the same one I use to pull harmonic balancers with because it has a variety of slots.

 

Not to high jack this thread but since you mentioned "key cylinder", I have fought that for hours without success. What do you use to push in and depress the catch?

I pulled the steering wheel and and went by the book (as far as the book goes) as for as position of the key and depressing the release. I tried with a little screw driver, and a pick, an orange stick, and a few things I don't remember right now.

I could not get the cylinder out.

 

Be sure you are pressing in the correct place. If the cylinder has never been removed before, there may be a thin layer of casting flash covering the slot. See the attached photo. The slot is inside the circled area. Note that the key buzzer switch with the two metal contacts that cover the slot needs to be pulled out first.