steering wheel nut size

[Chuckman84]

what is the thread size on the steering shaft for the wheel retaining nut? I need to buy a tap to clean up the threads. I boogered them taking the wheel off last year.

[Diesel Dave]

I would imagine the correct die you're looking for will be pricy. You can get a thread file with various thread sizes at any auto parts store. Should work and you'll have a very useful tool for for the future,rather than something you'll likely never use again.

[Chuckman84]

thx but that won't work for my needs, as I need the die to tune the OD at the mushroomed end. works like a charm if you have die, and nobody said that I was going to buy it.

[Joe Gopan]

It is an oddball thread, the thread at the top of the tube is,13/16"-20. Your local machine shop may have a die. I have repaired the thread in the past using a lathe.

[Chuckman84]

thx Ben, that what I came up with too.

[Marty, SoCal]

There is a different style thread chaser tool, ften used by mechanics to straighten bunged up threads on axle spindles, etc. Here's a link to the first one I saw on a google search:
http://www.zorotools.com/g/00026321/k-G ... MgodiEEAkg

A local brake shop mechanic may have a similar tool that can quickly chase the threads on a mild steel tube like the steering shaft in question. Might cost you a six pack if they let you borrow it or chase the threads for you.

[Joe Gopan]

13/16"-20 TPI makes it a bit harder to find that type tool. by the time the Jeep owner realizes what has happened to the threaded portion of the Jeep steering shaft during a frustrating steering wheel removal, the damage has been done and a badly mushroomed shaft has resulted. The steering shaft thread repair usually needs someone with a bit of practice.

[Tony W]

Hi Chuck
I would go with Marty on this one . I would say this would be a hard size to find. I find truck mechanics have all the good tools and are usually happy to help when you tell them its off a JEEP. It would only take a couple of minutes and a six pack works wonders.

Good luck mate

Tony

[Marty, SoCal]

Ben, it looked to me that the thread was 13/16" by 20 TPI. 20tpi is pretty common. I don't own one of the rethreaders in my link, but I do have some thread files, with a little patience they usually can rework a bunged up thread pretty well.

[marsq5]

mcmaster carr pricy 75.00

[Joe Gopan]

Steering tubes are expensive, shaping up a mushroomed thread on a steering tube and learning to use a thread file on one is touchy. There will be nothing left to thread if it gets screwed up.

[signsup]

I'm no mechanic and don't play one on TV, but I have had good luck when I need to cut down a bolt that is to long, to first install a net or two and thread it all the way to the head of the bolt. Cut the bolt to length and slowley work the nut or nuts off the bolt. When it gets to the cut part, I work it slowly back and forth and slowly off the end of the bolt, It usually smooths out any rough threads left when I used a cut off wheel.

Could you not take an old steering wheel nut and cut it in half after cutting off the top curved head and then clamping the two pieces together down on the threads as close to the shaft part as possible. Then slowley work the nut back off the mushroomed end? Working slowly with some thread cutting oil and keeping the clamps on the two nut halves as tight as possible might be worth the hour or so it would take to do it.

Seems like the steering wheel nut is a common enough part. I've got a couple laying around.

[Joe Gopan]

Back in the old days there was a thread chaser for spindles as on cars and light trucks, it had several threaded hole of different threads, and it split in two and could be clamped onto the inner threads and backed off over the burred threads.
I have one that was in our shop and got used a few times from 1945 thru a few years ago. It does not have the thread for the Jeep Steering Shaft tho.

[Chuckman84]

ebay,

die, $23 shipped

sure its an import but it'l cut maybe twice in its lifetime

[signsup]

Ben,

Man, I thought I had invented something.

Oh well, cancel my visit to the Shark Tank.