Help removing 328 3mm hex screws on Momo steering wheel

I drilled the screws and removed with an extractor tool
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Why don't you try something like Lock-EZ. Let the bolts sit for a few hours or even overnight and then give it a try.

 

They are in with blue Locktite, bruddah, heat frees them up.......

 

Soak the hex heads with Kroil or a similar product. The problem is the underside of the hex heads get stuck to the countersunk holes in the steering wheel.

 

About ten years ago I had this exact problem. For what it's worth, here's what I did. The screws had rusted/ corroded in place, since they are just common metal next to aluminum. I soaked them with a common penetrating oil..WD40 or Blast, overniight. Then before trying to unscrew them, I placed a center punch in them and tapped the punch sharply once with a mallet, and they came out nicely. The trick here,is to tighten them first and then unscrew them. Not wanting to encounter this again, I bought some stainless steel Torx head machine screws. Also, I personally like the look of the stainless, but you may perfer to paint them black. I've had the steering wheel off a couple of times since, and absolutely no issues in removal. I hope that this is of some help to someone. Thank you very much. Jacques.

 

Also gave them a soak with penetrating oil & then used a good quality hex bit. Scraped out the hex heads first to make sure there was no dirt etc in them that would prevent the bit seating as well as possible. Then tapped it in with a hammer a few times to make sure it was as far in as possible and "shock" any corrosion. They all came out pretty easily after that.

 

I drilled mine out on the GT4. The threads weren't stuck on mine, they were just tighter than the hex socket was strong. Black replacements are easy to find, but if you have a spacer you have new screws anyway.
I made a 1" spacer for my QV (and the screws came out easily on that one) and really like it. The extra reach to the turn signals is obvious at first but disappears with time.

 

Impact driver.

 

The only way you will prevent the 3mm by 3/8 socket from flexing is to cut off the excess length. You only want it long enough to bottom out in the screw. Then, when you try to turn the ratchet , you want to put as much force against the face of the screw , as force in turning it.. You may break the screw heads off. You could try a soldering gun inside the center of the screw to try and soften the loctite , if there is any.It wont hurt to put the socket on the screw, and hit it with a hammer a few times. Good luck.

 

+1...what I'd try, personally. An overnight soak with PB Blaster or WD-40, then the impact driver (not a big air gun, but a 19.2v or so, that you'd drive screws with) starting slowly. The vibration of the bit will be a big help. Make sure that you use a good, impact-rated hex bit. They're much harder than normal bits.

 

Mine were very tight and it was scary how much force it took shift them. I managed to remove them all with a hand held Wiha hex key bit for the tightest bolt the hex key flexed through 90 degrees before the bolt moved. I really thought it was going to snap!

Maybe worth another try with the key tapped firmly into the bolt to avoid rounding it out. Maybe wear a thick glove just in case it snaps.

 

BP Blaster, Liquid wrench etc are good.
Definately use an allen head socket
Don't use a ratchet - use a "T" handle with extension to apply the force evenly
Good Luck! Be Patient!
Steve

 

Yes, indeed they are.

And, a good way to get heat into them without damaging surrounding paint and parts is to apply contact with the tip of a soldering iron to the head of each screw --- heats the screw and its threads without collateral damage.

And, they are often buggered up from earlier forays. Just drill them / gronk on them to get them out if needed, and don't worry about ruining them in the process --- you can get brand new matching replacements at the hardware store for a few bucks --- they are not "unique Ferrari" items

 

Mine were tight too but came out with careful tension applied with a hex bit and a ratchet. I find it easier that way rather than with an allen wrench.

 

+1

 

I have a business making underwater torches. In most of the models we use stainless m3 hex screws in aluminium parts.
With service in many cases the soft stainless steel hex is just not up to the task ( corrosion and salt water do their job)

thus we are forced to drill them out. In other cases the client did some attempts and sent them to us after that.


The general idea seems to be that the stud is corroded in the thread. In 99% of the cases however this is NOT the case. The problem lies with the tapered part of the head of the screw "sticking" to the body, in our case the steering wheel.

General idea we see with clients who make an attempt themselve: they use a drill only slightly smaller than the diameter of the head. By doing this damaging the alu part is inevitable.

The best (and only proper) way to drill out such a screw is to use a drill with the same size as the stud-diameter ( in the case of our momo wheel it's 5mm)

Start drilling with only minor force and you will see that in most cases the head of the screw will come loose only after drilling about 1/6 of an inch deep.

After you have done all 6 screws simply pull of the steeringwheel and with a small vize screw out the remaining studs (in many cases you can screw them out by hand!)


Last tip: at mounting, put some silicongrease onder the head of the new screws. They will never get stuck again. And remeber Stainlees steel is much softer than normal carbon steel

 

Take a 1/4" punch hit the top of the csrew hard a few times and the remove with the hex key, work,s every time, use new screws after.

 

That's a good idea. I've also had good luck with a heat gun to soften Loctite.

 

I just took delivery of the momo montecarlo to replace the original wheel for my '83 308, other than needing the 3mm hex socket and probably a small shot of wd40/pb, (reading this thread and some of the pictures was a real help) after pulling the 6 screws out you just need to put new steering wheel in place and put the screws back in with a small amount of blue loctite, correct? No additional heartache or headache with this swap that I need to look out for?

Thanks for sharing your knowledge

 

Nope, once the screws are loose it's easy. As has been suggested previously, get yourself an impact driver (the kind you hit with a hammer) and a quality hex bit. If you try it with a regular "L" shaped Allen wrench it probably won't end well.

 

I see you're local to me. You should bring your GTB out to C&C in West Chester and we can compare notes since I have a GTB as well.

 

Greg, That was a long time ago when you started this thread. Did you just get around to doing the wheel?