The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Tons 'o Fun steering box info

Does anyone know what type of grease/oil do you put into a standard 59 3800 steering box?? I opened up the plug on the steering box today and i found the stuff inside to be alot like grease, i thought that you put gear oil in them. maybe that's what it used to be. i guess i need to clean out the old stuff and replace it with some new, how do i do that? there are 4 bolts on the bottom of the steering box do i just have to takke them loose and pull the bottom cover off? will this mess up my steering adjustment? The steering is fine now but anything that could make it better would be great

Hy panman, it's possible that the previous owner installed something like John Deere corn head grease in it, that is acceptable lube for that application. If the steering box still has lube in it and it doesn't leak then don't mess with it. You said "The steering is fine now but anything that could make it better would be great", in what way do you want to improve on steering that is "fine"?

http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/booklets/5220mts01.htm

Theres a ton of coverage on this topic here, just search "+steering +box +oil"

Mark

First off, 3b ya gotta tell me what the hell corn head grease is?? Now when i say it works fine i mean that it turns good for a 52 year old truck, but when i checked the filler plug it was low. it should be to the top of the plug. I put my finger in the hole and it looked and felt like old grease. The old shop manuals say to use steering gear lube? what would that be? i've never messed with non power steering gear boxes.

talked about here...

https://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=559975&Searchpage=1&Main=78700&Words=%2Bcornhead+%2Bgrease&Search=true#Post559975