John Deere Corn head grease. It's available at most JD dealers.
Wayne 1938 1-Ton Farm Truck Stovebolt Gallery Forums 1989 Silverado 1996 Mustang GT convertible When I die, I hope she doesn't sell everything for what I told her I paid for it!
That grease from Tractor supply ( see above post ) would be a lot easier to get in the gear box then the John Deere corn head grease. It's a good price and I bet it works really good.
Another option is gear lube. I machined the sector housing on my '36 pickup for an oil seal and use gear lube in the steering box. I did that job when I restored the pickup in the early 1970s and I don't remember what viscosity gear lube I used. It's still working fine and none has leaked out.
Corn Head Grease is the easiest solution and I would have use it way back then if I'd known about it.
Earlier this year while pondering the leaking steering sector on the 51, I grabbed a grease gun loaded with Super Tech Lithium Grease, pumped the steering box almost full and a couple thousand miles later, all's good. No leaks and it steers just fine.
I've ran straight chassis grease in several low speed gear boxes around the farm over the years with zero issues. Me thinks we sometimes over think/complicate things involving our old trucks.
We do three things for sure.........one, gear oil is too runny and often leaks and two, chassis grease is too stiff and does not flow into the recir balls. Three, the lube is kinda important to long life and function...........so pick your solution you think is right.
At about the time I started restoring my '36 Chevy pickup I bought a new 1971 Dodge van (that I still have). The factory shop manual for the van specified that gear oil is used in the manual steering box. That made it clear to me that gear lube is an acceptable lube. 46+ years and 360,000+ miles later the van is doing well with gear oil in the steering box.
If I had the truck restoration to do over I would use Corn Head grease or an equivalent because it would save the time I spent looking for a narrow sector housing seal and machining the sector housing for the seal. But I didn't know about Corn Head grease then and the gear oil solution has worked out fine.
One advantage of the oil is that it's easy to tell when the box is full so over/under filling is not a problem.
The grease must be self leveling or you will run the gears dry. I used gun grease in a steering box only to find all the grease was pushed out of the way, it was all pushed up the input shaft and in to the outer steering column tube, and the gears were dry.
Gear oils are fine if the seal and bushings are tight.
STP, and many other lubricants will also work, as long as it flows.
Exhaust pipes close to the gear box will soften the grease, which may help stiffer greases.
50/50 mix of gun grease and gear oil is also a good lubricant.
As long as it flows, even a little bit, it will work in a low speed gear box. If its stiff, it will be pushed out of the way!
Great posting and Yep, I learned something! I don't feel I've "for sure" compromised the trucks steering sector since it did have some gear oil when I topped it off with NLGI 2 grease. That said I'll check it when I get back home and will likely add all the gear oil possible to the mix.
Since I can't figure this out or find it being asked or mentioned anywhere I will ask it here. How much grease do you put in the steering box? I plan to pick up some 00 grease and top my box off. I am assuming that grease pours like a thick oil and since I don't see any obvious fill to holes or levels that you just fill the box to the plug on the very top. Can someone correct me if I am wrong. Thanks
For many years members have gone in circles on what to use for steering box grease (or, on how to cob-job other grades of oil/grease), because 00 was not readily available.
Thank you very much for posting that information, and the NAPA part number.
Here's some other sources for grease too. From my research, type 00 grease is pretty much considered obsolete, I'm assuming that's because everything has power steering now. The agriculture and lawn and garden industry are still using it though.
Discussing this with an old timer this week end and he swears Chev. came out with a TSB in the early sixties calling for regular chassis grease in steering boxes, to stop leaks and gear oil migration up the column.
1953 Chevrolet 3100 261 cu inch, sm420, 3.55 rear, torque tube still,omaha orange, still 6 volt, RPO green glass, side carrier spare, all done In the DITY Gallery Video of the 261 running
1964 GMC 1000 305 Big Block V6, sm420, the next cab off restoration
1953 Chevrolet 3100 261 cu inch, sm420, 3.55 rear, torque tube still,omaha orange, still 6 volt, RPO green glass, side carrier spare, all done In the DITY Gallery Video of the 261 running
1964 GMC 1000 305 Big Block V6, sm420, the next cab off restoration
Couldn't find the TSB but it appears after the smallblock chev appeared in 1955, the exhaust manifolds got pretty close to the steering gear. The heat thinned the gear oil and leaky seals in the box ensued. Follow this thread it is interesting.
1953 Chevrolet 3100 261 cu inch, sm420, 3.55 rear, torque tube still,omaha orange, still 6 volt, RPO green glass, side carrier spare, all done In the DITY Gallery Video of the 261 running
1964 GMC 1000 305 Big Block V6, sm420, the next cab off restoration
Small Block in cars - 55-57 cars (no engines mentioned) - was there a TSB for trucks?
If "The heat thinned the gear oil and leaky seals in the box ensued", you'd think they would go for a thicker grease, unless the steering gear assembly/seals also changed?
00 Steering gear lubricant , where available, was still authorized.
Hi Tim, the small block engines info I got was from a longtime friend and corvette owner and C1 NCRS judge. He said it was a problem in warmer climates on v8 cars. The 90 weight would thin and if they drove up steady inclines, a person could get a lap full of 90 weight through the steering wheel.
Last edited by sstock; 03/08/20183:01 PM.
1953 Chevrolet 3100 261 cu inch, sm420, 3.55 rear, torque tube still,omaha orange, still 6 volt, RPO green glass, side carrier spare, all done In the DITY Gallery Video of the 261 running
1964 GMC 1000 305 Big Block V6, sm420, the next cab off restoration
