Steering Box Grease/Oil

[dpcd67]

Corn head grease is not for transmissions. It is like a grease then it turns into oil when it is agitated. For things like steering boxes and winches it works fine.

[artificer]

Chuck missed:
There is about a .25" HOLE in the casting in between the two bushes too be fed with oil. Most bushes I have seen are not sintered bronze but solid reamed brass or bronze bushings [not all have the grooves either].

[Joe Gopan]

The Ross Steering Gear on Jeeps will have two grooved steel backed bronze or babbit faced bushings (bearings). The inner bushing is shorter, the groove of the longer outer bushing is closed at the end next to the seal in order to help contain the gear oil. Either bronze and babbit types could be found on the WWII Jeep and the supplier to Ross was normally Clevite.
Grease was usually a "fix" for gears having worn bushings and seal. Best to rebuild them and use GO as grease and other thicker concoctions will "cavitate" and not have sufficient flow around the upper and lower balls, the worm, and thru the bushings.
John Barton, if he were still with us, would confirm that many of the "rebuilt" Steering Gears from Sarafans would have a grease fitting with Chassis Grease installed.

[Joe Gopan]

And the OEM Bushings installed in the Jeep Steering Gear were split bushings.

[Joe Gopan]

GO was still the specified Steering Gear Lubricant thru the vVetnam era Jeeps in use such as the M-38A1.

[gearhead]

Joel, what is the current manufactured equivalent of GO?

Ed

[Joe Gopan]

The SAE 80W-90. Lubriplate still offers straight 90.

[Ian Fawbert]

If you ar worried about oil leaking out at the seals, put 2 seals in the housing. They both fit in there quite well.

Just an idea/suggestion- my box filled with oil and 2 seals (as per the manual/lube chart) hasnt leaked a drop in the last 7 years.

Ian.

[Stir-Stick]

Howdy,
If you re-use your original sector , move the seal off it's beaten path and it will seal better . I am tooled up to ream my own bushings , and I prefer a "0" fit on the bushings . I can turn it by hand with a slight resistance . Use non-hardening #2 permatex sealant on the door gasket and bolt threads along with the copper washers on the outside . I also use a lite spray-on sealant on the shims after setting up the bearings .Wipe the worm gear shaft with ospho to protect it from rust . Paint might flake off and end up in the top bearing on the worm gear. .
Stick

[CDN Sharky]

Ok i just rebuildt my steering box as well i didnt use any grease because there was none in it when i took it apart. All i want to know is if i put in 90 weight gear oil it will work and not f anything up. Yes or No answer is fine thanks

[Joe Gopan]

Yes.

[CDN Sharky]

Thanks.

[johnfrater]

Regarding the "Do not overfill"...I just finished a steering box rebuild, filled it with oil and got a leak. How much oil should I have put in? I've looked in several of the manuals but only see something like 'fill to top.' I put in about 9 ounces and got a real gusher of a leak.

[Chuck Lutz]

As noted, there is a pipe-plug you remove and then put gear oil into the case. When it starts to come out of there (just like it does when you refill the T84 and T18) you stop putting it in. This must be done with the assembly installed in the jeep on level ground. If you were to lay the steering box/shaft/tube down FLAT on the workbench you would overfill the case. Filling it this way to the top would mean once you installed the assembly in the jeep the gear oil would find its OWN level and that would be up the tube....and leak out.

There is a reason only TWO of the cover bolts have copper crush washers on them...that's because when installed in the jeep and filled CORRECTLY only those two would be below the level of the gear oil.

[artificer]

Would help if where the oil leak is coming from was mentioned. Gasket?
Always seal the side cover bolt threads when assembling & clean, before putting oil in the steering box.
Chuck is correct & there is no reason not to put copper on all the bolts.