rkvette61

Hi guys- what type of lubricant should I use in a C1 steering gear box and would a synthetic be much less resistance.

Bluestripe67

Do a search on "gear lube". When the page comes up look for a post from DZAuto dated 4/22/07 it has good details for you to follow. Dennis

AZDoug

High pressure grease, it won't leak out.

Doug

Frankie the Fink

Exactly right - anything else WILL leak out. Look at the pictures on the bottom of this thread...http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...teering&page=2

You will see the special fitting I made to pump grease into the steering box and the pan showing the old thin grease pumped out. You will see the 1/2 cup or so of thin grease in the pan before the new thicker grease began pumping out..

My steering box was nearly EMPTY from seepage over the years. You should make sure you have the right grease in the box as soon as possible.

Powershift

I recommend GM chassis lube #12377985 for the manual steering box. It is the current part number for the lube originally specified/recommended by Chevrolet. The original stuff has been discontinued. Comes in a 14 oz tube. Costs about $6 a tube.

Any good chassis lube will probably work as well.

To fill the box without taking it apart, I used a special fitting sold by Paragon Reproductions. Part number #8581 . Cost approx $18. Works well. Others may also sell this fitting. LATER EDIT: I went back and rechecked the Paragon Catalogs, and the #8581 fitting is for year 1963 and up. For C1 cars you must make one yourself as described/shown by FDREANO in his post.

My 1967 (fairly dry) steering box took about 4 oz of lube to fill. I jacked up the front of the car during the filling step, and worked the wheels from left to right a few times to help distribute the lube and remove any air. You remove two of the three bolts on the top of the steering box: one to install this fitting (fill bolt) and another to vent. Leave the third bolt tight to prevent disturbing the box preload adjusting screw plate.

Larry

Frankie the Fink

You can make your own fitting from parts from NAPA in 5 minutes for about 6 bucks (the picture in the thread lin in my above post shows the one I made). You have to be somewhat careful in pumping the grease into the box - there have been horror stories about folks filling up their steering column tube until grease flowed onto the driver's seat...once the fresh grease is exiting the hole where the lower bolt was removed you are done filling the box.

Plasticman

I would not use just any old chassis grease. Use a grease that is rated EP (extreme pressure) for long gear life.

Plasticman

Black_Magic

Here's another TOOL for getting grease in steering box. Just drill 1/8 hole thru bolt and add fitting. Then replace one of the steering box bolts. and grease away



George

DZAUTO

Use a good grade of chassis lube.
Somewhere in the 1957 time frame, there was a GM service bulletin which instructed to use chassis lube instead of gear oil.
SOMEONE HERE has a copy of that service bulletin and it has been posted before.
I've asked multiple times for that service letter to be posted again and so far, it hasn't been posted. So, whoever has that service bulletin, would you PLEEEEEEEEEEEASE post it again!

MICK3

We filled my steering box with grease that I purchased from the local Chevy parts dept.
We removed the plug on the box and pumped the grease in through a grease needle, we also had the front jacked up so we could turn the wheels left & right.

kenmo

Gotta make me one of those grease fittings conversions....

ml1955

I made a hybrid lube consisting of high pressure grease and 140 weight gear lube mixed it so it was a bit more fluid than grease to avoid channeling...No leaks yet, it was still pretty thick.

JohnZ

I'm guilty - I can't find the scan, and the original is in an old issue of "Vette Vues", under "Factory Facts", but I don't know which issue, and I have hundreds of them; not gonna dig through them now. Paraphrasing, the letter told the dealers to suck out the old gear oil and replace with chassis lube on Corvettes where customers complained about steering gear leaks; the letter attributed the leakage to the close proximity of the steering gear to the hot exhaust manifold.

DZAUTO

Well, I wasn't going to make any accusations , but I thought maybe it was you!
I could care less about the quality of the letter's reproduceability so long as it is legible (I just want to print out a hard copy and add it to the library).
I also have Vette Vues from 1974-------------------boxed away in the attic and I don't even have a clue where the boxes are!!! But if you should run across it sometime, will you post it again?

sub006

Don't think you could go wrong with Mobil 1 "red". Extremely resistant to wash-out, and one fill should last forever.

Duntov 54

Well you guys might find this odd, I have used STP in the last 3 boxes I have rebuilt and it works great. My 54 has it and no leaks.

K2

I used the Red Line Assembly Lube. Has worked great for many years with nary a leak.

dgsmith

I've been away from this forum a while because of a new project, a '54 Hudson Hornet. Excellent forum, you think some of the guys on this form are ancient....... Anyway, I use STP and I think it is superior to grease because it "sticks" to the gears and more viscous.