I'm in the process of restoring a 49 chevy 3/4 ton flat bed pickup and need some help on finding the proper lubricant to use in the steering box and how much to use?
You should use straight 90w. this is what our steering box rebuilder suggests, as for how much I'm not sure. Jesse Hazell Chevy Duty Tech.
It is _critical_ to use an _OIL_ in there , NOT a paste lube nor grease ! . it is a recirculating ball typ of box and so needs something that will flow . If it leaks , you can use 600 W oil or STP etc. , fill it slowly up to the bottom of the filler hole and always wipe away the accumulated road grime before removing the filler plug ! . Regular EP 90 W gear oil is great . The sector shaft seal as the same as the manual box seal on all 1/2 ton GM pickups up to the 1970 year model and the GM seal seems to be the very best in quality , better at sealing the leaks in old tired boxes . I'm sorry I don't have the GM part # handy but it's only $9.00 or so.. -Nate
GM part number for the seal is 7801626. Last time I looked it was around $14. Federal Mogul (National) part number is 313842. About 1/2 the price at my FLAPS. These are both "rubber" seals, not felt seals like the originals from the 40's & 50's.
My steering box has grease packed into it. Should I try to remove the grease and refill with 90w oil? How do I remove the grease? Thanks Ken
You _don't_ ~ just fill it with some synthetic 85W hypoid gear oil and that'll thin it out in time . You'll prolly find they added grease to it because the sector shaft seal is bad and it drips a lot . you can remove the Piman arm and replace the seal or you can simply top it up every month or so with STP , Bardhal or other super thick _oil_ . -Nate
