Steering box lubrication

[restojon]

Has anybody tried using semi fluid grease in their steering box instead of the regular oil??
I'm a former Rolls Royce engineer and we used to use it in all of the pre war and post war car steering boxes and it worked a treat.
Any ideas???

[SydneyRoverP6B]

Hmmm, probably not a very good idea especially in a power steering system.

What do you recall from your University studies on the principles of fluid dynamics?

Ron.

[DaveHerns]

It should be OK in the steering box especailly if it's a bit leaky

[restojon]

Hi all,
My one doesn't have the power steering, that would be a messy experiment trying that out. wouldn't like to try and clean that out afterwards.
My one is just the standard worm and roller steering box, funny you should mention leaky though, at least my bulkhead wont rust

[chris varming]

Hello restojon, while you're at it......, could you tell me how many balls 5/16 you have in your main nut? is it 27 or 26?? (ref. my previous question some months back) regards, Chris Varming

[Tor]

Hi Restojon,

Grease instead of oil in non-PAS steering boxes has been a recommended way to go, both here and by mechanics consulted.

I'll be trying out (different) remedies for my PAS soon, which seems to leak from both box and pump. Quite a bit, too.

Cheers,

Tor

[restojon]

Hej chris,
I've not got in to this steering box before apart from adding oil, could you tell me exactly what information you need (as I'm not yet familiar with the internals) and I'll do my best to have a look for you when I do the change, I'll even try to take some pictures if possible.
Jon.

[restojon]

Hej Tor,
Thanks for the info, it sounded like a reasonable thing to do in my opinion but wasn't sure if anyone else had gone down the same road before and it had got expensive.
I'll have a think about the PAS problem you have and see if there's anything I can think of,
tack so mycket,
Jon.

[chris varming]

Hej chris,
I've not got in to this steering box before apart from adding oil, could you tell me exactly what information you need (as I'm not yet familiar with the internals) and I'll do my best to have a look for you when I do the change, I'll even try to take some pictures if possible.
Jon


Restojon:This is my problem Should you ever take the steering box appart, please count the 5/16 balls and let me know....

on Wed Sep 23, 2009 6:09 pm

Gentlemen, have any of you tried to renovate a manual steering box? - I have just stripped one and to my surprise I found that in the main nut there were twenty-seven 5/16 balls - according to the manual (57.30.07) there are only 26 balls and also in Haynes they mention twenty-six balls. Counting and re-counting I came to the same number: 27 (twenty-seven).
Now, I have a number of manual steering boxes as spares and I opened up a second box - Guess what: 27 balls! - My question: is it so that we Danes are equipped with an extra ball or what? (No funny comments...) - I have re-installed all 27 balls and it seems to work. - Have any of you faced this problem? - Regards, Chris Varming

[restojon]

OK, results time. I've substituted the steering box oil for semi fluid grease and have been running it for about 3-4months now and instantly I noticed that the steering needed less adjusting for free play, it cured the leak, and had no bad effect on the steering as far as I can detect. The only one slight downside I've come up against is when driving on rough roads you can sometimes get a resonation up the steering column, which is only quiet (a little buzz from the 2000 badge on the steering wheel) but is different from when I was running oil.
As far as the ball situation is concerned I'm afraid I can't tell you how many balls are present. I sucked the oil out and degreased it inside without stripping it and replaced the oil with semi fluid grease that way, if I ever have reason to get this or any other steering box apart I'll get back here and post my findings.

[unstable load]

@ chris varming,
You may well find that over the years they were building the cars they discovered from feedback that they were adjusting the boxes a bit and maybe runnng out of adjustment with 26 balls and the extra was added to simplify matters for later maintenance.
Only a thought.