Steering boxes revisited.

[austinsailor]

The subject of steering boxes come up here often. Frequently it is about what lub to use.

I am just digging into this 53 Plymouth I bought about 2 weeks ago and the steering box is like perfect. And it reinforces what I thought.

Of about 15 steering boxes that I've worked on, 3 were in perfect shape. All 3 had intact seals and were still filled with flowing oil, like 140 wt or so. The other 12 had either grease or nothing. Not one that had been filled with grease was any good, all had gear damage.

So, as I've mentioned before, I believe your best bet is to put in a new $5 seal and pour grease in it. I say pour, because if you have to pump it, push it or use a grease gun to get it in there, it's not going to get where it needs to be.

[plyroadking]

Where do you get a seal for 5 bucks? I just bought one for 15 at the parts house, also when I used to work at a model A/T shop we would get 600 weight gear oil to fill the boxes with. I have not been able to find it out here yet, usually get laughed out of the parts houses...... This is where I used to pick it up

http://www.vintageford.com/sect_search.cfm?Line=Model%20T&Category=Axle-%20Rear

Edited February 27, 2012 by plyroadking

[Guest P15-D24]

As I have noted before grease should only be used as a stop gap till it can be properly repaired.