Now that I have my engine out, I plan to address as many issues or head off any problems down the road. I've been aiming to access the steering box (not power) and check the grease level & condition. There are a total of 4 bolts on my inspection cover. The 3 outer bolts are easily removed but the cover won't open.

According to the manual, the center bolt must also be removed. But according to the illustrations it is attached to a gear.

Can I safely remove the center bolt? As I remove the 4th bolt, will anything fall apart on the iside of the box?

It appears that there is an "adjustment screw" in the center of the 4th bolt also. Looks like a slot for a screw-driver. What is that for and will I screw anything up by removing the center bolt?

Thanks
Len

 

If you remove one of the side cover mounting bolts (one of the three on the outside not the central one), you should be able to poke a screwdriver down into the gear and extract some grease. You can usually remove one of the other outside bolts and add grease through the other one. Use a good grade of lithium based chassis grease for lubricant. Stop before grease starts to come out of the second hole. You want some air space inside the gear so the grease doesn't cause high pressures inside the gear when it expands when things get hot underhood. You can now replace the two bolts and the gear will retain its original adjustments and is ready to go.

If you really must look down inside the gear, you can remove the side cover but now you will have to readjust the pitman shaft mesh to the rack inside the gear when you reinstall the side cover. You can do the following: Remove all three outside perimeter side cover bolts. Now remove the lock nut from the central bolt. Place a screwdriver in the slot of the central bolt and unscrew the side cover from the central bolt. (The central bolt will not come out of the side cover by trying to unscrew it.) Count the number of revolutions that it takes to unscrew the sidecover from the bolt.

Inspect the insides of your gear and add grease as required. Now, carefully screw the side cover back onto the central bolt. Screw it back on the exact number of revolutions that it took to remove it. This should put you in the ballpark for the final adjustment. Once the side cover is in place, tighten the three outside bolts. Follow the instructions in the link below to adjust the gear in-car.

http://www.corvettefaq.com/c3/GearAdjustPic1.jpg

http://www.corvettefaq.com/c3/GearAdjustPic2.jpg

http://www.corvettefaq.com/c3/GearAd...-Rev21FE04.doc

There is an alternate way of removing the side cover but it involves removing the pitman arm so that the entire side cover and pitman shaft can be extracted up and out of the gear as one unit.

I hope that this helps.
Jim Shea

 

Thanks Jim, that's exactly what I needed to know.