Trying to pull off steering wheel and ended up spreading the threads...picture below. What are my options for steering shaft repair/replcement and where do you source the parts?
That's gonna be tough, the shaft is part of the steering box, and those boxes are often worn out, so good tight used ones are in short supply.
IIRC, the inner shaft is the same from 52-54, either automatic or stick. The shaft will have to be replaced or repaired which entails taking the box apart. French Lake Auto may have one. I believe Ecklers or Van Pelts has box rebuild parts.
Find a used one and if the box is bad, cut the steering shaft and splice a good one on it. Then find someone who knows the correct way to pull a steering wheel, and have them explain it to you for next time.
You've got a mess... First, you didn't have the right puller. The dedicated steering wheel puller I bought about 50 years ago came with 2-3 protective adaptors that you used on the end of the shaft to prevent the 'flaring' you've got. The usual method was to tighten the puller, then give a good quick whack on the puller bolt to break the wheel free. Use a steel hammer, it needs to be a sharp impact. Dead blow or non-metallic ones don't work nearly as well. You may have to repeat this a few times (tightening the puller each time), but I never had one fail to pop off. But that's water under the bridge at this point, the shaft is trashed. But you still need to remove the wheel. Do pick up an actual steering wheel puller however, or fab something so you don't continue to try to flare the shaft. Unplug the horn wire at the steering box and remove it from the wheel end to prevent damage, although I suspect you've probable already broke the insulator on the end. You're going to need to remove the damaged shaft end probably flush to the wheel, a grinder is one solution but carries a fire risk inside the car; I'd recommend a die grinder with a carbide burr. Do cover all upholstery, those chips will go everywhere but are much less likely to start a fire. Once you have that done, bring out the puller again. After you get the wheel off, pull the whole steering column out. In an ideal world, you could simply replace or rebuild the steering box at this point. Ford used that basic box design all through the '50s, but due to multiple shaft lengths and small design changes, year to year interchange is poor. As several posters have pointed out, finding good used boxes is not easy. All of these had a fatal flaw IMO, and it's the tapered roller bearings Ford used for the worm gear attached to the shaft. The bearings and outer races were separate, replaceable parts but the inner races were machined onto the gear and then hard-chrome plated for wear. This plating cracks and falls off, causing notchiness and making it extremely difficult to adjust. I had a '56 Ford that had this issue, I attempted to find a good used one (at that time rebuild kits weren't available and there was still a lot in the yards). I bought four that seemed 'OK', every one was the same problem. And the kits don't include a new shaft, as well as not having the hard chrome on the worm gear. I won't necessarily agree that complete '52-54 steering boxes will interchange as Lares (who rebuilds steering boxes) shows different part numbers for the 52-53 and 54, although that may only reflect their internal differences. And of course, Borgeson offer a PS box for it. All of these options will be $400 and up just for the parts... Cheap way out? Graft on a new end to the shaft, and I'll highly recommend you use a weld sleeve for that, as well as using a countersink bit to flare the hole on each cut end to make fishing the horn wire back in easier. AFAIK, Ford used the same shaft diameter and spline count all through the '50s and beyond, the only real fly in the ointment is in '58 Ford eliminated the hollow shaft for the horn wire so you'll need a '57-back donor shaft. Take the cut off end with you when looking to verify that. Good luck!
I'll add a bit more information. Ford trucks had the hollow steering shaft up though 1960, so that opens up the donor shaft list more.
A possibility is that Ford used the same shaft diameter from the A onwards-maybe. I know the Model A suppliers have a repair piece that is just the threads for issues like this. Maybe that will work?
Pretty sure '47 was the last year for the tapered end and keyway. All are the same except the big trucks...pretty sure
No one has mentioned yet but when you pull one of these wheels you leave the nut on it, you only loosen it up until it's flush with the top. Then the pushing force is supported by the threads and prevents mushrooming.
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