[MDchanic]

Hello All! Brand-new member with my first genuine Cub Cadet problem.

I'll present Just The Facts first, then the social niceties second.

1970 (manufactured November of 1969) Model 147, first owner didn't use it, sold it after about 15-20 years in a garage, second owner used it 4-5 times a year for 27-32 years to mow an easy acre, kept it in a dry pole barn (as pole barns go) with a concrete floor. It's essentially a rust-free machine.

It's got the "fancy" steering wheel, as seen in the "Only Cub Cadets" logo at the top of this page, and in my avatar, which leads to my problem:

I've read the threads and watched the videos about steering wheel removal.
I tried using an air hammer on the column with the nut backed off (used a metric socket-head screw with a large head that was exactly the diameter of the column and slid right inside the nut to hammer on). No luck.

I did spray it with Kroil.

I did NOT try to hit it with a sledgehammer, so as not to damage the box casting.

I can't heat it, as it will melt the plastic wheel.

I can't make a puller with a piece of hardwood, or use a bearing splitter, or the $90 custom puller, because the bottom of the steering wheel has a tapered plastic collar that is integral to the wheel and will break if I use it to push against.

I can't make some sort of elaborate puller that rests on the spokes, as they will bend.

What's next? I thought of using R410 (boiling point -55°F) to freeze the column, as I can't heat the wheel, but that's all I can think of.

Anybody else have any better ideas?


The social part:

I am the new owner of an old Cub Cadet 147.
It was purchased new in the winter of 1970 by the custodian of my grammar school, and used to clear snow that year (which did have a large snow storm).
After that first year, safety regulations made the original buyer remove it from the school, and he kept it in the garage of an apartment building, essentially unused, for about 15 to 20 years, until my father heard about it and bought it.
My father removed and sold the plow and electric lift motor and had a mower deck installed, used it to mow the grass at his house, and did essentially nothing else to it other than change the oil, from then until this year, when he bought one of those electric zero-turns and gave it to me.

I'm no perfectionist, but I'm the sort who's bothered by minor flaws in my machines, so I've already fixed the one bad headlight, replaced the missing hood bolt, adjusted the brakes so the actually work, repositioned the battery hold-down to the factory configuration, figured out all of the part numbers of the consumable parts, and ordered a pair of generic taillights (one Speaker 143 lens is missing and nothing else will fit on the base – Holy Crap, those original lights are expensive!), replaced the left steering spindle (sloppy roll-pin hole), and taken the deck down (broken belt), which is why I figured I Might As Well take off the steering box and clean and check it out.

One day I expect to take the machine all apart and do a full "refresh" (I wouldn't call it a restoration), but for now it should be a better machine for me than the tinny Troy-Bilt "Pony" that came with the house.

Thanks for any help you can offer,

- Eric