The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Steering box gear oil?

Recentley I rebuilt my stock steering box to my 55' chevy pickup. I'd asked the local parts guy what type of oil to service it with and he said they didn't make a regular oil for those steering boxes.He said just to use good ol differential- standard transmission 90 wt. oil, is that right?

My maintence manual calls out GM Steering Gear Lubricant so apparently they did make it. It doesn't give an SAE wt. # though. An interesting note though, it says the fill plug hole is the max level it should be filled to prevent oil from coming out your steering wheel so pour it in rather than using a pressure gun.

I use 90wt. gear oil in a steering box I rebuilt three years ago. No problems so far.

GM has a manual steering box lubricant. It is not easy to get thru a dealer. The last I got had to come in from the Left Coast. Normal auto parts places do not stock when I was searching last year. I will check tonight to see if there is a PN on the squeeze bottle for you.

Unfortunately, GM stopped making this product about two years ago and the only way to get it is through NOS inventory in dealerships.

It is packed four tubes per case and I got mine from another Stovebolt member who was kind enough to give me a tube. It's heavier than 90W so 90w will be too thin I think. There's a 600w gear oil out there that might work but again I don't know for sure.

I posted the part number here last year and if it didn't get purged from the history, perhaps a search will turn it up for reference.

American Classic Truck Parts (a major sponsor of stovebolt.com) carries it (model # SGLUBE) at $15 per 10 oz tube.

American Classic Truck Parts catalog page

I rebuilt my steering box a couple of years ago and bought some of the Chevy lube. It came in a four pack and cost about $8 a tube. It takes a little over 1 tube to fill the box. I still got two tubes.

Is it OK to say that?

You can use gear lube in a tight box, but if there is any wear it will leak. Some of the older GM manuals stated that chassis grease was an acceptable substitute. I would use a moly base grease, it retains its viscosity at lower temps better than a lithium base.

I've always made my own by mixing gear lube and grease. Seems to work OK. Any lube that doesn't run out is probably good enough as nothing in a steering box turns fast at all.

Go to an industrial lubricant dealer and get some Exxon Dynagear.It is available in small plastic tubes and is a semi-fluid,very tacky,moly fortified blackish-red grease.It's just the ticket for Ross cam and lever gears and the Saginaw gears.I have used it for years in forklifts,old construction equipment and heavy trucks,or just about anything that I have not converted to an integral gear or an Orbitrol.

I put moly open gear grease in my 57 panel when I got it cause the original stuff was all over the outside instead of inside - worked great for 12 years.

Bill

Penright makes a really good steering box lub that stay in boxes with no seal
Mine ustta run like a tourist in Mexico...

Boy I wan't to thank all you Bolters for your recomendations , comments etc. etc. on my topic. Thank You..

I have used and was recomended by a mechanic is CV joint lube he said the part that are lube have a similarity. and I used it succesfully. Ed ke6bnl

I think the GM part number of the discontinued steering lube grease is/was: 001052182 (This might be the part # from OldCarKook - I got it here but did not write down the name of the source).

Tim

Does anyone know if a rebuild kit exists for a '61 4x4 box. I have had no luck in finding a kit. I have seen rebuilt ones and checked the links page but no dice so far. So as to not completely hijack the thread, I would surely use the aforementioned recommendations as to lube types.

John Deere makes a special gear lubricant called Corn Head Grease. The part number for a regular tube is AN 102562. It is rated NLGI grade 0. This grease is used in row unit gear boxes on corn heads. It is installed with a grease gun and is more fluid than regular gun grease. It is designed to stick to gears and lubricate pressure points and stay just thick enough to stay in the gearbox even if the seal is marginal. When I rebuild my steering box, this is the grease I will use. It is very close to the original steering gear grease.

Okay, should I be lying awake at night wondering about my steering box lube? How would I know if it needed more -- steers hard? Hell, its a '47 1 ton. Keeping it in one lane is an art form. Or could that be the tires?

It should steer really easily unless it's dry .

There's a pipe plug on the top of it , remove and add some 90W as it's empty sure as sh*t .

I gotta try some of these newer lubes as mine runs out too , takes about 3 months to go dry so I top it every month .

Over on the Corvette restorers page there was a thread about the same thing. Came down to part number 12377985. Went down to the local GM dealear yesterday and ordered some.

Came in today and it's labeled 'Chassis Grease'. Further reading says " GMC CHASSIS GREASE is a premium grease for chassis lubrication. It is made up of a special grease consisting of oil, lithium thickening agents and special lubricants. This product is standard chassis lubrication on all GM vehicles."

Sounds like pretty 'special' stuff to me.