Brody
September 15th, 2009, 01:56 AM
I have run into this before and just ran into it again, so I thought that I would post this to save some people a little aggravation.
Scenario: You hop into your car/rig and the key goes into the ignition and won't turn. The steering wheel is locked. You put pressure one way and the other on the wheel, but no matter what you do, the steering wheel doesn't budge and the ******* thing won't start. Of course, this only happens when you need to be somewhere on time or need to move your rig.
Well, this happened to me yesterday, just about the time I was totally 'rigged' out. I decided to pull up some stuff on the internet:
http://site2.wikianswers.com/templates/icons/abar_a.gif?v=53614 Answer
take the steering wheel off and all the hardware. there should be a plate in there that has a small rod, no more than 2" long going though it. that's the lock. pull it out and it's not gonna lock anymore.
Answer
It also can be in a bind. Pull the wheel hard in each direction, while turning the key.
Answer
This is called torque lock, and is caused when you remove the key when you have the wheel turned hard. Avoid this by letting go of the steering wheel before you turn the car off.
Answer
Put the key into ignition. Next, you can just turn the wheel to the direction that it got stuck in. For example, you accidently moved the steering wheel to the right really hard, and now it's stuck. Just turn it to the right all the way (which most likely make the steering wheel move 1/120th of a turn). Than all you have to do is turn the key and the wheel at the same time. Yay, your steering wheel isn't stuck anymore! =)
PB: This is the simple stuff. I also tried a different key and had no luck. Figuring that this was the ignition in the 84, and judging by the lack of general maintenance from the previous owners, coupled with the fact that this switch had probably been turn a million times or more, I decided I would stick the end of a can of WD40 into the switch, too. Between all of the above and the WD, I managed to break the wheel loose and get it to start. I kept hosing down the switch and working the key, figuring that the tumblers in the switch were pretty gummy. It is now working pretty well and every time I pull the switch out, I have a layer of black funk on it...but it works.
Scenario: You hop into your car/rig and the key goes into the ignition and won't turn. The steering wheel is locked. You put pressure one way and the other on the wheel, but no matter what you do, the steering wheel doesn't budge and the ******* thing won't start. Of course, this only happens when you need to be somewhere on time or need to move your rig.
Well, this happened to me yesterday, just about the time I was totally 'rigged' out. I decided to pull up some stuff on the internet:
http://site2.wikianswers.com/templates/icons/abar_a.gif?v=53614 Answer
take the steering wheel off and all the hardware. there should be a plate in there that has a small rod, no more than 2" long going though it. that's the lock. pull it out and it's not gonna lock anymore.
Answer
It also can be in a bind. Pull the wheel hard in each direction, while turning the key.
Answer
This is called torque lock, and is caused when you remove the key when you have the wheel turned hard. Avoid this by letting go of the steering wheel before you turn the car off.
Answer
Put the key into ignition. Next, you can just turn the wheel to the direction that it got stuck in. For example, you accidently moved the steering wheel to the right really hard, and now it's stuck. Just turn it to the right all the way (which most likely make the steering wheel move 1/120th of a turn). Than all you have to do is turn the key and the wheel at the same time. Yay, your steering wheel isn't stuck anymore! =)
PB: This is the simple stuff. I also tried a different key and had no luck. Figuring that this was the ignition in the 84, and judging by the lack of general maintenance from the previous owners, coupled with the fact that this switch had probably been turn a million times or more, I decided I would stick the end of a can of WD40 into the switch, too. Between all of the above and the WD, I managed to break the wheel loose and get it to start. I kept hosing down the switch and working the key, figuring that the tumblers in the switch were pretty gummy. It is now working pretty well and every time I pull the switch out, I have a layer of black funk on it...but it works.