The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Steering box

Hi all,
I have some slack in my steering and was sure I had seen a thread about adjusting the steering box but can’t find it. Could someone kindly point me in the right direction.

Thanks

I have a '46, but this helped me:

Thanks to this helpful link! https://flic.kr/s/aHsjD9dwLj

I have a 62 page (62 separate .jpg files) document published by Chevrolet that explains how to overhaul and adjust truck steering boxes. It is dated 1952. I think it is beyond my ability to post on this site, but who knows, maybe one of the moderators could take on that task. I'll attach some pages here.

Bill and T-Doug - Brad Allen has that up on his Flickr site. 1952 Overhauling Truck Steering Gears.

Bill - Glad to know you have the files too. After I get back from this weekends Springfield, MO Swap meet, I'll send you a PM and we cn see about figuring out a way to post them here too.

When you need to adjust the worm bearing end play (there should be none) you will either need a really wide and thick flat blade screwdriver (which is hard to use if the steering box is still mounted in the truck) or a homemade tool. The tool consists of a fairly large nut (wrench size between 5/8" and an inch), a big (probably 2"-3" OD washer), thick enough to be a loose fit in the slot of the adjuster and a welder (like my truck buddy Bill who made mine).

Cut a chunk off the washer that comes close to filling the round-bottom slot on the adjuster. Weld the nut onto the washer. Turn the tool with whatever sized socket fits the nut. Don't forget to back off the lash adjustment before you start.

Gdads51, Very cool link. Thanks for posting it.

Thanks for info. Anyone know what type and grade of oil goes in the steering box uses?

I’ll let everyone know how it turns out.

Doug

John Deere Corn Head Grease

https://www.amazon.com/John-Deere-Corn-Head-Grease/dp/B08B6C7ZWS

That's what I use.

New Pitman shaft lip seals are available. GM part # 7801626 (used at least into the 1980s on a variety of GM vehicles including Corvettes which makes your truck faster), CR 11055 and Federal Mogul 313842. The originals were cork.

Can be changed without removing the steering box from the truck.

From another thread - Dan posted a link for John Deere Corn Head Grease. I just rebuilt mine and that's what I'm using.

So you use grease and not oil.

It's a weird kind of grease that is somewhat pourable. As it gets warmer it becomes more like oil. When it cools, it thickens up again like grease.

The grease you're used to and commonly available is NGLI #2.

The grease for steering boxes is NGLI #0 or #00, which is much more fluid. If you were to put some on a flat surface, it would eventually flatten out, where normal grease would keep it's shape.

JD Corn Head Grease is NGLI #0. Because it doesn't pour (it'll puddle after a long wait) it is hard to get the steering box full in a hurry. I've used it in a grease gun with needle point tip.

Tractor Supply has a NLGI #00 "pourable grease" at $6.19 per quart. Probably would work better than the JD grease, but would also be more likely to leak past a worn Pitman shaft seal.

John deere corn head grease is a thixotropic grease. It will reduced viscosity when subjected to shear stress or agitation, such as that within a corn head gearbox, and then thickens again to its original consistency when at rest. How much shear stress or agitation do you have in a steering gear box? Very little if any. It’s better to use a NLGI #00 grease. It will penetrate the steering shaft and the balls within the nut and the bearings a lot better than the John deere grease.
If you have a worn Pitman shaft seal, replace it.

Jim and Bill, your explanation(s) make sense. Why then, is John Deere Corn Head grease the nearly universally recommended product on this forum? Which of the two (#0 or #00) is closer to the original grease installed in the 1950s.

Is there a negative result from using the #0 JD grease? Is there a noticeable difference in performance between the two while driving?

I don't know what modern equivalents of "special steering gear lubricant No. 0 grade" is.

Interesting thing about excerpt below is "Multi-purpose lubricant" to top off the box statement . This is the grease used for chassis lubrication.

I have had corn head grease in my steering box for 20 years, it just now has some seep on the outside. #2 chassis grease just pushes out of the way till the gears run dry, I tried it and know what it does. #0 or #00 will both work just as well with the rubber seal on the sector shaft. CV joint grease also works and comes in squeeze bags.

Is it possible to "drain" or remove the existing lubricant in the steering box while installed on the vehicle?

I use a simple pump dispenser.

Do you mean like one from an old GoJo bottle? Do you stick the straw down in through the top and just push the button?

John Deere Corn Head Grease is a special NLGI Grade 0, they do not recommend mixing any other grease with it. If you are not rebuilding it, find a good 0 or 00 grease that provides excellent wear, corrosion, and rust protection.

Jim, can I infer that the NLGI 00 grease can be mixed with other types of grease? That is, if the unit is not rebuilt but just needs a top off or a refill after draining, the NLGI #00 grease be used?

Not only on this forum but all the truck and car forums.
The only thing I can think of, is JD grease is widely available self-leveling grease. The misconception of “ As it gets warmer it becomes more like oil”. (The grease become more oil like when subjected to agitation or shear stress, not heat). You can buy one tube at a time. With regular #0 grease, it’s harder to find a seller that will sell one tube, most times you have to buy a case (10 tubes ).


Manufactures recommend you do not mix grades of grease or oil.

I couldn't find it locally, but bought a set of two tubes from Amazon. My steering box used just a little over one tube. After I get my truck on the road, I'll check it to see if I need to top it off.

Drive your old rig to any farm. The farmer will talk your ear off about his dad's old truck and will likely give you a tube just for stopping by.

Not to be iconoclastic but I mix corn head grease with 90 weight gear oil to get a product that is self-leveling and still thicker.

It approximates SAE 200 weight gear oil which was what I was told in 1977 by the parts department manager of Steakley Chevrolet was what GM used for the steering gear boxes of vehicles made in the 1950s. He told me GM continued to sell what they had up until inventory ran out sometime in the 1960s. He said the stuff they could get in 1977 was thicker than what was used in steering boxes assembled at the factory.

I asked him if I could just buy some SAE 200 weight gear oil and use it. He said the whole SAE scheme changed back in the 1950s and he thought the 200 weight gear oil was not made any longer.

I later read on the VCCA a man there did the very same thing...mixing grease/oil to imitate the GM product. His name was Gene Schneider and he seemed to me to be a good guy and very well-informed.

My opinion is you need very constant lubrication both for the balls, the bearings and the worm/sector. Just my 2 cents worth. Please spend it wisely.

Jon, what ratio do you mix the 90 mineral oil and Corn Head Grease? 50/50?

Please understand something that is very important for me to make clear right here: I'm not trying to rain on anyone's corn head grease parade. It is not my style but please let me add some substance to my ramblings.

The proportion is more like 30% 90 weight gear oil and 70% corn head grease. What I want is about twice as thick as liquid shower soap and the key factor is the mixture will go level if you put some in a butter dish and leave it sitting still a few minutes. If it won't, keep adding 90 weight until it does. SAE 200 was about that consistency, but it is hard to compare today as this type of lubricant relies on NLGI ratings...which are different. And which include some confusing factors. You can find SAE 250 but it is synthetic.

Corn head grease is rated NLGI 0 (marked clearly on the tube) but if you look around you will see other products rated as NLGI 0 which can be poured through a funnel and into a steering box whereas corn head grease can't be poured into anything at all. Why? The pourable products are not thixotropic and corn head grease is. That is why it is in a lube tube and why I don't use it by itself for steering gear lubricant. Thixotropic means it will become more fluid-like under stress but then it will thicken when the stress is not there any longer. Not self-leveling by definition. What is my concern? My concern is twofold: the steering box does not generate any heat nor does it operate at elevated rpms so how long before the grease becomes fluid and will that in some way cause extra wear to the steering gear? I doubt it will (on its own) run into all the tiny places it needs to be. Thixotropic grease has been around a long time and GM engineers as far as I know only used it in wheel bearings and throwout bearings...which are fundamentally different.

I can show and tell so let's take a look...The image below is the best picture I can show of a tube of corn head grease that has been sitting upright and undisturbed for 8 years. If it was self-leveling, there would be no peaks and valleys, but you can see there are. The grease clinging to the sides of the tube would have by now slid down and become part of the mix and it hasn't. All that has happened is a bit of the oil has separated out of it. Which you can see. That oil (you can see 3 drops from a bamboo skewer I put into the oil portion and let drip from about 6 inches high) is about 20 weight...like 3 in 1 oil. But there isn't enough separated oil to mix back with the remainder of the grease and make it pourable. I tried this before (years ago) and it did not work at all.

Hope this is helpful. It is why I mix the two. I don't want thixotropy. I want as close to the old static SAE 200 as I can get.