Could anyone tell me how you remove a Grant steering wheel? Do the little allen head screws around the center hold the wheel together or are they just for looks? I have pulled many factory wheels before but never dealt with pulling an aftermarket one. Thanks.

The screws hold the steering wheel to the steering wheel adapter. If the wheel has a removable center horn button you might be able to remove the steering wheel adapter from the steering column without removing the wheel from the adapter.

It's been many years, but what I recall is that the horn button presses on around a round circuit board that acts as the horn contact. Once you pull the horn button off, the spring will no longer be holding the circuit board away from grounding on the steering shaft, so get ready to disconnect the horn wire (or pull the fuse before you start).

After the horn button is off, remove the nut holding the steering wheel adapter to the steering shaft, then pull the adapter off the shaft.

If you're seeing Allen head screws, I'm picturing the style that has two spokes above and two spokes below a disc spacing them apart - if this is the case, removing the Allen screws will not get you closer to removing the wheel from the shaft. You need to reach into the 'well' that the horn button is sitting in (I used to use a paper clip with a small hook bent on the end) to pry the edge of the horn button off the aforementioned circuit board center piece. Then remove the center nut and pull the adapter off the shaft.

Or, if it's just a single-level three-spoked chrome wheen, then it's actually easier to remove the adapter from the shaft while it's still attached to the adapter with the Allen screws.

Hope this helps... assuming my memories of them are correct. Apologies if they're not.

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Patrick W. Heinske -- LZeitgeist@aol.com

"There are two types of Fiero owners - those that have gotten ripped off by Toddster, and those who will get ripped off by Toddster."

[This message has been edited by LZeitgeist (edited 05-05-2011).]

Are you going to replace the steering wheel with another aftermarket or stock. If you use some aftermarket like another Grant, just take off the allen screws and the new wheel will fit the same adapter. All aftermarkets take an adapter. You only need to remove the center nut and adapter if your going back to a stock one or another aftermarket that uses a different adapter.

LZeitgeist has the right idea. Although, you don't need to bend up a paperclip or anything like that. The steering wheel will have a hole in the side, so you can stick in a screwdriver and pop the horn button off.

After the horn button is removed, you'll see the big nut in the center, and several small bolts around it, in a circle. The small bolts attach the steering wheel to the adapter. And the big nut attaches the adapter to the steering column.

I have a three spoke Grant's with a wood rim. It has five Torx screws (T-15 or T-20). You remove those (put a light-colored old towel over your lap or be prepared to spend time looking for little screws). The horn button on mine has a short wire that goes into a hole in the hub. If it's plugged in you pull it out by pulling out the plastic around it. There is a sort of plug that looks like a piece of insulation that is used to put it back in. Under the wheel there is a five-spoke adapter with three bolts and the big nut with retainer in the center.

You pry the retaining clip off with a screwdriver. The big nut takes a 21mm socket. It should be torqued to 30 ft-lbs. This will turn the wheels to the right stop when you put it back on so you might want to turn it to that point and take pictures as you tale things apart. Otherwise you will likely end up taking the five screws out a couple times more to get the wheel right side up. The hub is made of soft metal so it's easy to strip the threads of the little bolts. It's also easy to break the little bolts.

There is a great post on the rest of the column under "Inside the GM Tilt Steering Column" (or something) in this forum. The hub comes with the car, but varies with which wheel was originally installed.

There are posts about how to modify or replace the hub if you want to install a different wheel. In my humble opinion the steering column is a if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it item. If you must make entry, study the column post first, take pictures as you go, and keep the parts in some kind of organized parts bin. Borrow the puller from your auto parts store if you have to go below the locking plate and don't force anything.

Well since I bought a replacement wheel I went out the other day to remove the Grant one that came on the car. Went to autozone first and rented their wheel puller. Popped off the center cap and noticed that the big nut in the center was loose and the little retaining clip thing that goes on the end was missing. One of the 3 bolts that holds the wheel to the adapter was really loose and there was another one that was finger tight. Turns out I didn't even need the wheel puller, since there was already a little play in the wheel top to bottom I thought I would tug on it a little bit and see what happened, came right off in my hands, was the quickest steering wheel removal I have ever done. Kind of scary to think about, how loose everything was that held that wheel on!! I put my new freshly redone GT wheel on, and fits perfectly, big improvement in feel in my opinion. Thanks for the input, and help. I wonder if anyone would want the old Grant wheel?

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