1953 Ford F100 Steering Wheel Upgrade - Old-School Steering Wheel Upgrade

A typical steering-wheel puller has two elongated slots to allow the bolts to slide in or out to align with the two threaded holes normally placed in a steering wheel to facilitate removal. The '53-56 Ford F-100 steering wheel has 5/16-24 fine-threaded holes.

If the bolts for the steering wheel puller do not start easily by hand or with a wrench it is an indication the threads are bad, and must be chased with a tap.

It was a good idea to proceed slowly with the tap because over-tightening the tap or running it down too far could have resulted in breaking the tap off in the steering wheel.

To work properly, the steering-wheel puller must align directly with the steering wheel and its shaft.

The steering-wheel puller was tightened down only enough to put a firm load (tension) on the steering wheel puller.

A sharp blow to the steering-wheel puller with a mallet was enough to dislodge the steering wheel from the steering shaft.

If the steering wheel puller has done its job there will be a distinct feeling of release. From here all it took was to lift the steering wheel up and away form the steering shaft.

Before installing the new Dennis Carpenter '56 F-100 steering wheel, the splines and threads were checked for condition. Any burrs or buggered threads were cleaned up with a file before proceeding.

Before the new '56 F-100 steering wheel was pressed tightly down into place the direction of the front wheels was checked to ensure they were pointing straight ahead.

The '56 F-100 horn button retainer was placed on the steering shaft before the nut was.

With the horn button retainer installed the next step was to install the horn button spring, and then twist on the horn button.

Without seeing the results who would have ever believed installing a deep-dish '56 F-100 wheel on a '53 F-100 would produce such an "old-school" look?