Steering Box Grease

[todd reid]

Is there any consensus as to the best replacement for the always leaking gear oil? I seem to recall Nick recommending a homemade oil/grease combination on the old forum. Also is there a recommended procedure for removing the existing gear oil?
Thanks in advance for your input!

 

[Bill Blue]

Todd, the concensus seems to be there is no concensus. Add your favorite grease. Hard to see how you can go wrong with ordinary chassis grease. No need to remove the oil, there probably isn't that much in the box anyway.

Bill

 

[Rsgwynn1]

How high should the grease come? Almost up to the fill hole? I just pulled the plug on mine and stuck a screwdriver down in it. There was about 1 1/2" of oil--probably been there since the 60s.

 

[V6 JOSE]

Todd, the concensus seems to be there is no concensus. Add your favorite grease. Hard to see how you can go wrong with ordinary chassis grease. No need to remove the oil, there probably isn't that much in the box anyway.

Bill

I know that you hate to agree with me on anything, but this advice is not good. Can you imagine trying to steer an Alpine with cold chasis grease in the steering box? There is a reason for using lighter grease, and that is that it will better lube the mechanism inside the box, but also make it lighter to steer.

Jose

 

[Nickodell]

I find that a SAE 140 oil/moly grease mix does the trick if you get the proportions right. By that I mean just thick enough not to ooze out down the drop shaft. The moly helps keep some lubricity on the metal surfaces, too. I fitted a Zerk grease nipple (OOH. I WONDER IF THAT'S GOING TO BE CENSORED???) to the top plate, and just give it enough squirts with the gun until it comes out the original filler hole.

 

[skywords]

I thought when it comes out by the steering wheel is full

 

[Rsgwynn1]

Nick, I won't even ask you how you get the plug back in after you've pulled it out of the hole.

 

[PaulK]

I fitted a Zerk grease nipple (OOH. I WONDER IF THAT'S GOING TO BE CENSORED???)

Nick, You'r Baaadd

Paul

 

[65beam]

gearbox oil

nick,
there is oil in the grease.why do you add more?i have used an EP2 grease for years.no problems.

 

[Bill Blue]

Jose, I'm not disagreeing with you, you are disagreeing with me.

I have steered a small farm tractor in zero weather with chassis grease in the steering box. I can tell you it steers a lot easier than a box that has no lube in it, even in hot weather. As for steering an Alpine in cold weather, well, I'm not going to. Don't think many others will either. Besides, after the grease mixes with the remaining oil, it will thin out considerably.

On second thought, maybe your right. After putting that wide rubber on rims with no offest, you need all the help you can get!

Bill

 

[Nickodell]

nick, there is oil in the grease.why do you add more?i have used an EP2 grease for years.no problems.

True; grease is nothing more than oil suspended in a gel formed by a metallic soap. But remember that the original lube was just oil, which must have been for a reason (the same reason as engine oil was specified in the tranny). As I said, I mix a cocktail by adding moly grease to heavy oil until it is just viscous enough not to run out. Castrol used to make a grease called Castrolease CL which was specified for the gearbox on one of my old motorbikes (I think the Velocette) back in the 50s. That was as close to "Nick's Mix" as you will find, and it may still be available, but I just like making my own for the hell of it.

 

[skywords]

My 1947 Bellanca Cruiseair's Aeromatic prop uses an oil that is no longer made and the accepted substitute is to mix STP and Marvels Mystery oil. It still seeps out and gets on windscreen. Real fun after a three hour flight and you have to land looking into the sun. They all leak a little kind of like a 1960's Brit sports car.

 

[George Coleman]

Just my two cents worth, this subject has come up before. I have used a white lithium grease in my steer box for 30 + years works great and dose not channel like regular axle grease, it dose not get stiff in cold weather and in the summer it dose not leak out from the heat!!

 

[Nickodell]

My 1947 Bellanca Cruiseair's Aeromatic prop uses an oil that is no longer made and the accepted substitute is to mix STP and Marvels Mystery oil. It still seeps out and gets on windscreen. Real fun after a three hour flight and you have to land looking into the sun. They all leak a little kind of like a 1960's Brit sports car.

You remind me of Ken W. Purdy's gleeful description of MGs in his great book The Kings of the Road (Littlebrown, 1952): "The oil comes out of everything but the tire valves, and gets in everywhere, including your hair."

 

[V6 JOSE]

Just my two cents worth, this subject has come up before. I have used a white lithium grease in my steer box for 30 + years works great and dose not channel like regular axle grease, it dose not get stiff in cold weather and in the summer it dose not leak out from the heat!!

BINGO!!!!

Jose