The turn signal lever on my van is loose; it appears I need to get inside the housing to reattach or replace the lever, but I can't seem to figure out how to remove the steering wheel, which seems to be required to remove the metal housing around the steering column which covers the base of the lever.

I tried removing the face (where the horn button is located) of the steering wheel, and there was a tightened nut on bolt beneath which appeared to terminate the steering column, but when I removed the nut I still couldn't remove the steering wheel.

I don't see any other screws or bolts holding the steering wheel in place, so obviously I'm missing something -- or perhaps I just didn't pull hard enough.

Anyway, some advice on how to get the steering wheel off (and back on again, if there are any gotchas) would be much appreciated.

 

Pull the horn cover and remove the center nut like you had it. Now by rights you should need a puller to get the steering wheel off. On each side of the nut you removed is a threaded hole for this purpose. So option one is to can beg, borrow, or rent a puller. Option two is to thread the nut back on a few good turns, grab each side of the steering wheel, and give a hard yank. Sometimes you can get it off by yanking, some times you need the puller. But either way, you're correct about having to remove the steering wheel to tighten the turn signal lever. You'll see the screw once the steering wheel is off, (and maybe a dust cover.)

 

I was actually able to tighten the lever without removing the steering wheel -- in this particular van, there is a third hole in the face of the steering wheel (aside from the two threaded puller holes - I was wondering what those were) which is not threaded, and through which the innards of the steering column are visible . . . when I turned the wheel around, I noticed that this hole passed over a small standard screw near the base of the turn signal lever; I tried tightening it, and voila! I have a working signal again.

Thanks for the info, though; if I actually have to replace the housing later on I'm sure that'll be useful information.