The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline steering box lube

Hello working on 1954 3100 1/2 ton . What type of gear oil and what weight do you run in your steering Box THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!!!!!

Corn head grease.

i concur in fact GM even started going to grease in their service notices.
Corn head grease works really well. and does not leak as much oil. I just tapped a hold in the cap plug and put in a zerk fitting for easy service

I use Penrite Steering Box Lube...comes from Australia...they've been around since 1926.

Mike B

My preference is Chevron's Delo EP 00 semi-fluid grease. It matches the consistency of the NLA Chevy grease that was spec'ed in the mid-'50s, when Chevy stopped recommending gear oil based on customer complaints of leakage (according to Service Bulletin). It's a grade lighter than the commonly used J-D Corn Head grease (which is an NLGI 0 rated grease).

Interestingly, while the J-D and Chevron Delo products (as well as similar products from Shell and Mobil) meet EP wear specifications, the pricier Penrite fluid does not, by their own specs. Downside of the Chevron, Mobil, and Shell EP 00 greases is that the minimum packaging size is a 5 gal (35#) pail. I have a lifetime supply.... LOL.

Doug

Google search 00 grade grease, lots of places sell it in 1 quart bottles for lawn mower gear cases. CV joint grease also works.

You can mix corn head grease with 90 weight gear oil (about 70/30) and make a lubricant that does very well. With grease it is very important that you have something which will remain liquid in cold weather and over time. About 5 years ago I took a steering box apart which had been lubricated with what looked like chassis grease and the thing was shot. The grease had done very little to protect the wearing surfaces and the bearings were completely gone.

Grease should not be used in the steering box. If you use grease, you will find that it tends to stick to the walls of the steering box and the steering gear then makes a tunnel in the grease keeping the grease from lubricating the steering gears. I believe the concept of using grease came from the observation that there sometimes was a “grease” fitting placed where the gear oil was poured in. This “grease” fitting was just a quick way to add gear oil through a pressurized system to the gear box used by the service department.

Mike

How does one get the corn head grease into the steering box?

I filled a grease gun with the corn head grease and pumped it in the fill hole.

This was my favorite in my searching

Note GM 50' and today called for 0 NLGI Grade which is the real number you should be looking for. They had GS as a code part numbers and other items. The term "Grease" is too generic. why? look in previous post. Corn Head Grease is NLGI Grade 0 while regular grease most people think of is 2 NGLI thus referring to grease generally is not a good way to discuss this.

But food might

NLGI# Penetration Consistency Food Analogy
000 445 - 475 Fluid Cooking Oil
00 400 - 430 Semi-Fluid Applesauce
0 355 - 385 Very Soft Brown Mustard
1 310 - 340 Soft Tomato Paste
2 265 - 295 "Normal" Grease Peanut Butter
3 220 - 250 Firm Veg. Shortening
4 175 - 205 Very Firm Frozen Yogurt
5 130 - 160 Hard Smooth Paté
6 85 - 115 Very Hard Cheddar Cheese

so lets fill that thing up with some brown mustard and move on. lol

I can stop by Sam’s Club today. Anyone wanna go halfsies on a gallon of brown mustard?

Mustard contains vinegar which is an excellent de-rusting agent. Might be a little hard on seals, but we’ll never know until we try it.

My experience is that John Deere Corn Head Grease is not quite fluid enough for steering gear boxes. I had filled the box on my '37 Master coupe with that product a few years ago. When I took the box apart last year to rebuild it it was obvious that the grease had not flowed and lubricated the gears. There were channels and cavities or pockets where the sector gear had traveled.

After I completed the rebuild i filled it with the Penn-rite. I recommend that you really need something with the consistency of a NLGI 00 grease. It will flow better than the corn head grease. I also agree that you can do just as well mixing your own concoction of grease and gear lube.

Tractor supply carries Super S Cotton Pickers Grease (I kid you not), that is NLGI 00. That is what I use. Here is a [LINK].

I just found a great solution. Lucas' "hub oil". Found it at my local NAPA. Its heavy like gear oil, but, darn stuff killed the leaks but good!

from their website...
Lucas Hub Oil was formulated to stop leaks in steering axles and trailer hubs on heavy duty trucks. It also allows hubs to run on a marginal amount of oil in case of a blown seal or poor maintenance. It is an excellent gear lube for racing or heavy duty applications.

KEY BENEFITS

Slows leaks
Prevents downtime
Extremely heat resistant
Very long lasting

In a hurry to get my truck back in the road since my newer one was torn up worse, I put a tube of wheel bearing grease and a quart of 90 weight mineral oil in a container and blended with a paint mixer. What I ended up with was almost the same consistency as 00 corn head grease.

To add, for some reason tractor supply in my area has stopped keeping 00 grease in store.