So let’s start from the beginning. I bought some new gears for my Outrun since two of them were cracked. See below:
Why do I have two “A” gears? Well I got a great price on another “A” gear so I bought it. I don’t think I have encountered another device in an arcade game as complex to take apart as Outrun’s sterring wheel system. It was clearly NOT made to be taken apart and serviced without completely dismantling it. My fun started when I wanted to replace the main “B” gear on the steering column. That gear was destroyed as seen here:
My first step was to remove the nut at the back end of the column. That did not want to come off. After trying various methods I decided to hit it with a hammer. BIG mistake. The metal used on that steering column is very soft, so soft in fact that it deformed the end such that I couldn’t get the nut back on. Oh crap. I ended up having to cut off 2-3 threads off the back to get it threaded back on. GO DREMEL!! 
Next up, is the assembly with the A gear:
This is after being removed
You cannot remove this assembly unless you remove the main housing from the wood panel itself. That involves removing four combo bearing/screws that allow the panel to move side to side when the steering wheel motor engages. If you decide to service this puppy it ALL has to come apart. The hardest part of the whole disassemble process is removing the gears from the shafts. Again you cannot hit them with a hammer because it will deform the metal so you have to slowly pry the gears off the shafts.
There is a little metal key that sits in the shaft that keeps the gear from slipping and that is what makes it so hard to remove the gears. You can see the notch in this picture:
The reason why it was so hard to remove is the entire assembly was all gooey from old grease. Once I got everything apart and used brake parts cleaner to remove the gunk it was much easier to reassemble. I have a suggestion for anyone attempting to service one of these; take pictures! I didn’t take any and the exploded view in the Out Run manual is not detailed enough. It took me a while to remember how it was assembled. After about 5 hours of work here it is all reassembled:
And what was the ultimate purpose of this whole adventure?
Oh yeah! A straight steering wheel with no broken gears is pure perfection with this game.
