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Today I opened up the steering box from my very original 1972 convertible and found it full of thick brown oil. Can anyone tell me what is supposed to be in the steering box? I thought they were packed with grease. Thanks for the input anyone can offer!
So I just did a google search and as it so often does, it found several corvette forum posts! I've had mixed results with the forum search tool but Google seems to find them everytime. So I read up on the subject and it appears I need some good grease. Not sure why the stuff that was in there ran out like think oil. I will visit my local NAPA tomorrow and pick up a tube. GTR1999 recomends "Lucas HD green" and I am not sure how successful I will be at finding that locally, but I will ask at a few places before I just go with a good lithium chassis grease.
So I just did a google search and as it so often does, it found several corvette forum posts! I've had mixed results with the forum search tool but Google seems to find them everytime. So I read up on the subject and it appears I need some good grease. Not sure why the stuff that was in there ran out like think oil. I will visit my local NAPA tomorrow and pick up a tube. GTR1999 recomends "Lucas HD green" and I am not sure how successful I will be at finding that locally, but I will ask at a few places before I just go with a good lithium chassis grease.
If you go with standard steering box lube, make sure it is something that can tolerate heat [better than most]. Exhaust manifold/outlet run very close to a C3 box and put a lot of heat into it. If the lower seal is not 'up to snuff', you will get leakage with standard grease.
I think it best to replace standard grease with synthetic. Synthetic is much better in terms of lubricity and load tolerance. And it has a MUCH higher melting point. Plus it won't oxidize over several years and turn to wax or "dark goo".
Steering box lube
