Hi, after having the dumb a$$ techs at GM fix my locked up steering wheel, my steering wheel is no longer straight when my tires are. I am assuming they removed the wheel when they removed or bypassed the colomn lock. I refuse to let these clowns touch my car again.

How does the front cover on the wheel come off so I can pull it with my steering wheel puller and put it back on straight?
Thanks alot

 

I just had my local Chevy dealer install my new Vette Essentials steering wheel ($38 install). When I got it back, I had the same thing you're complaining about. Steering wheel clocked about 10-15 degrees left when going straight down the road (wasn't like that before they swapped the steering wheel). I only drove about one mile and took it back immediately. They said the wheel can only go on one way. I called Matt at VE and he hasn't heard of this before. I looked very carefully at the original steering wheel that was removed. The center sleeve that has the teeth is apparently either pressed into the steering wheel after it's cast or the wheel is cast around the sleeve (not sure which), but the sleeve is definitely a different piece of metal. The teeth have two tabs (one top, one bottom) formed by NOT cutting the material between two teeth (hope that makes sense) and one (right hand side) groove which looks like two or three teeth removed. With these three tabs, it's pretty obvious that they are correct, the wheel can only go on one way, i.e. it can't be accidentally clocked by a tooth on the spline. Both the dealer and VE suggested getting the front end aligned because they can reset the neutral angle of your wheel by adjusting the toe of both wheels so that when your steering wheel is straight, the wheels go straight down the road. I took it back to a different dealer and had the front end aligned ($80) and it's still not perfect, but alot closer than before. I decided to live with it for now. If it's still bothering me after a while, I've already looked up in the Service Manual how to adjust the toe settings myself (although it looks quite simple to do, I'm a little nervous about screwing around with the alignment myself). Good luck with yours and let us know how it turns out.

 

You need to be aware that to remove the steering wheel you must first remove the air bag located in the wheel. You should either have the service manual to do this, or someone who is familiar with the SIR system.

Mishandling the air bag while removing/replacing it MAY cause it to detonate. and you don't want to be messing with it if it goes off.

 

Vette Essentials recommends that when you buy one of their recovered wheels, you have installed by a dealership. As they told me over the phone, if you accidentally deploy the airbag while trying to do this yourself, you will WISH you took it to the dealership. The cost to redo the airbag is alot more than the steering wheel itself. Additionally, there's always the possibility that you could be injured by it.

 

Bell >> So the center sleeve can possibly be cast or whatever in slightly different orientations of different wheels? If so, that is some very good info you've given

 

you'll need the J-hook pullers from KD tools(part # 3510), Napa can get them

some of these wheels can be a pita to remove

 

mrm1149,

That's exactly what the dealership suggested to me. I obviously have no way to verify it, but I don't know how else to explain it. The steering CANNOT be clocked due to the three tabs in the spindle teeth and it's pretty obvious if you ever look at a steering wheel up close, the sleeve is not a cast part of the wheel - it's a separate piece. I can only assume that when they built the C5s, they mounted the steering wheel, suspension, and tires, then did final alignment to make sure everyone's wheels (steering and tires) were straight relative to one another.

 

what I dint understand is why the wheel would change direction when they didnt even touch the front end of the car? Guess I'll re-align it at work someday

 

Yeah, sounds like your best option at this point.

 

I can personally attest to that

 

BTW, if you do decide to have a dealership remove the steering wheel for you, I recommend you go the Vette Essentials website and print out the installation instruction page for the steering wheel (which actually just tells you to take it to your local dealership). It claims that the typcial job should only take about 30 minutes of labor. My local dealership quoted me more than 3 times that much time (and cost) to do it. When I showed up for the appointment, I gave them a copy of the Vette Essentials write-up and made sure that they knew that VE is one of the world's largest Corvette interior customizers. After they saw it in writing, I guess it made a difference. They actually had it in back for about 1-1/2 hours (I waited), but they only charged me 30 minutes labor!!!! Way to go Matt (Vette Essentials)!!!!

 

Flat Rate is .7 hr,,Time includes R&I/R&R driver air bag.

 

As far as that goes, you need a rachet/socket style Torx (pretty sure its a #30), not a screwdriver style, because they are tight. Take the two bolts out from the back of the wheel and it comes right off. The air bag has a single yellow wire connector that you have to unplug and the horn has a single wire.
I had to take mine off because the horn wasn't working. The air bag was no big deal, I'm pretty sure it has to have an electrical signal from a sensor in the front of the car before it can go off (even so, I held it away from me when I took the wire off )

 

I have removed the stock steering wheel on my C-5 and replaced it with a hub and wheel that I had previously used on my '78 Corvette.
Chevy never changed the splines on the shaft from then till now.



Now, I KNOW that I can mount this wheel in any orientation, so it seems logical that if this aftermarket hub can, then the stocker should be able to do the same.

I looked at my original stock wheel and I see what you are talking about, but I don't remember the steering shaft splines being cut so that the wheel will fit only one way.

I did this when the car was new in '99, so I don't have a clear memory of exactly what it looked like.
Guess you will just have to go ahead and eyeball it to see for sure.