Seering box

[Morris R.]

I would like to find out what this steering box is off from 5677649 5665723 55 can anyone help? Thank you maury

[Wayne M.]

Re: Seering box

I would like to find out what this steering box is off from 5677649 5665723 55 can anyone help? Thank you maury

Sounds like you're describing the original steering box off my very late '65, with the exception of the 4th digit on the cover, which is a "5" in your text and is a "6" on my pic.



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[Domenic T.]

Re: Seering box

This may be a little off the thread but what lube are we supposed to use in the box?

The manual says chassis lube? that's grease.

I did a routine rebuild on my 67 and decided to use gear oil and i have a small leak past the lower seal.

The seal looks to be in place and as I remember there wasn't a problem when I installed it.

If grease is the lube then I don't think the leak would be there but then why not a grease fitting instead of a hole?

Judging by the fill hole I think it should be gear oil/lube and that's what I used in the past when I lubed a car.

DOM

[Edward J.]

Re: Seering box

This may be a little off the thread but what lube are we supposed to use in the box?

The manual says chassis lube? that's grease.

I did a routine rebuild on my 67 and decided to use gear oil and i have a small leak past the lower seal.

The seal looks to be in place and as I remember there wasn't a problem when I installed it.

If grease is the lube then I don't think the leak would be there but then why not a grease fitting instead of a hole?

Judging by the fill hole I think it should be gear oil/lube and that's what I used in the past when I lubed a car.

DOM

Dom, Chassis grease is correct, you can go to your GM dealer and still get chassis grease.

[Domenic T.]

Re: Seering box

Ed,
Then chassis grease is what I have in my grease guns and grease the ball joints with.

The grease tubes here say for chassis but I would think that the balls in the steering box might not get all the lube they need.

DOM

[Edward J.]

Re: Seering box

Dom, When I did my 63 box I packed everything with grease,I used a tube of grease for my rebuild. I am not to sure it was to much. but it never leaked any grease afte the engine compartment got warm, this is what happens sometimes after you take car for a long trip and everything heats up in the engine bay.

[Domenic T.]

Re: Seering box

Ed,
Thanks for clearing that up, I will remove the oil & grease.

Morris,

Thanks for letting me intrude.

DOM

[Russ S.]

Re: Seering box

The tube you get from Chevrolet for the box is thinner than the tubes of grease you use in a grease gun. It is somewhere in between chassis grease and gear oil.

[Paul J.]

Re: Seering box

Dom, here's an article by Gary Ramadei where he states that he no longer uses Mobile 1 because of oil separation. He also states that any good grease will work. This is an old article so I don't know if he still believes this.

http://www.digitalcorvettes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=76773

Paul

[Jim S.]

Re: Seering box

The engineers at Saginaw always told me to use "a good grade of lithium based chassis grease." Gary Ramadei uses Costal Uniplex premium, high temperature, lithium complex grease. He tried Mobil 1 synthetic grease in the past but does not recommend it today.

Jim

[Domenic T.]

Re: Seering box

Thanks guys,
I was going to remove the seal at the bottom (when installed to see if it was a wiper or a regular seal.

Russ, the thin grease makes sence to me. I looked at the 67 lube chart and they showed the same in the gear box as they showed for the ball joints and that was confusing.

I would think when one took out the CHECK HERE bolt that the thicker grease would still be at the top.

DOM

[Jim S.]

Re: Seering box

One other thing. You don't want to overfill the gear with grease. You want to leave a nice air volume on top of the grease. As things heat up under hood, you want some room for the grease to expand. If the gear is completely filled with grease, you possibly can blow out the input shaft or the pitman shaft seals. That is why that it is not a good idea to fill grease into one bolt hole until grease starts to gush out of a second bolt hole.
Jim

[Joe L.]

Re: Seering box

Thanks guys,
I was going to remove the seal at the bottom (when installed to see if it was a wiper or a regular seal.

Russ, the thin grease makes sence to me. I looked at the 67 lube chart and they showed the same in the gear box as they showed for the ball joints and that was confusing.

I would think when one took out the CHECK HERE bolt that the thicker grease would still be at the top.

DOM

DOM------


The original lubricant specified for 1963-82 Corvette steering boxes was GM #1052084 and was a 140 wt grease. This was discontinued quite a few years ago and replaced by GM #12377985 which is still available. This is what I recommend you use. This product can also be used for most other chassis lube applications except front wheel bearings.