manual steering gearbox
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 1,028
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From: San Antonio Texas
manual steering gearbox
what type of lube is used in the manual steering gear box? is it oil or grease? when filling do you remove the "fill here" and "check here" screws at the same time? do you just fill until it runs out? thanks.
Tech Contributor
Joined: Aug 1999
Posts: 15,175
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From: Connecticut, USA
Originally Posted by redvetracr
I,m sure GM sells/sold a specific grease for this application but i use synthetic chassis grease in mine.....grease NOT gear lube...
...redvetracr
...redvetracr
Use Mobil 1 red auto grease. An empty box will use about 11 oz. You don't want to overfill it because the grease will expand under heat. It may be tought to accurately fill the box through the cover screws although that is the way the books say to do it. You can't remove the cover either unless you know how to adjust the box. If the box has never been lubed, then you may find it is 1/2 full with overheated muck. I usually have guy remove the box then clean and set it up after installing new grease,it takes more work to do this but you'll know it's done right. It's a nice Winter weekend job while the car is in the garage.Gary
Pro
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 633
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From: Hamilton, ON, Canada
Originally Posted by greyghost79
what type of lube is used in the manual steering gear box? is it oil or grease? when filling do you remove the "fill here" and "check here" screws at the same time? do you just fill until it runs out? thanks.
To top up, best to remove top cover so you can see what you're doing & to avoid overfill- must leave some room for gear to move, then you have to adjust play.
Tech Contributor
Joined: Aug 1999
Posts: 15,175
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From: Connecticut, USA
Yes, the screw through the top of the cover will have to be moved-this is the lash adjusting screw. It is much harder to adjust the lash in the car, that's not to say it can't be done. If you don't want to go through this try adding through the screws while rotating the steering from lock to lock. Have the front end off the ground. You might be aboe to work more grease in that way.
Gary
Gary
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jan 2000
Posts: 3,326
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From: home
I'm going from memory here. I "think" one of the cover bolt holes is not a blind hole. I got a bolt thats the same size as the cover bolt, drilled and tapped it for a grease fitting and injected the grease using a grease gun. It was about 15 years ago, so the memory is.........well......... vague!
Mark
Mark
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Pro
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 653
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From: TX
GM #12377985 (chassis grease) is not discontinued. That's what they now designate for the box. It superceded the orig grease. Other quality chassis greases should work equally well or better - they should have a high drop point and be resistant to heat because of the proximity to the exhaust.
