I am rebuilding the front end of my 68 Camaro. The steering box was caked with crud so I pulled it out. I have cleaned all the caked on sludge off the box. What should I do next? i have never messed with a steering box before. What type of lubricant is it filled with? With all the crap on the on the outside I am not sure if an lubricant is still inside. Is there a seal kit i can buy? how much of a pain is it to rebuild? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Matt

I think gun grease, but that said, I always put some 90wt rearend gear lube in it to help it out..

pdq67

If it works smoothly with minimal play it's probably ok, but to be sure I would have a shop or "an old-time" guy that is familiar with these units take a look.

Thanks for the replies guys. i will be digging into the steering box this weekend.

Matt

Let's put it this way, my new rebuilt P/U's stock replacement manual gearbox is packed with gun grease.

pdq67

I rebuilt the one in my 69z. I used the stock gm lube by the end of the season it started leaking. I pulled it out resealed it again and used 80/90w and leaked even quicker. Then I just packed it full of grease from a grease cun and the box feels tighter and barely drips once in a while. I think my headers are cuasing it to get too hot. Grease gun will work fine.

Saginaw Steering Gear always recommended a good lithium based chassis or ball joint grease for their manual gears.

You can remove two bolts from the side cover and add grease through one of them while watching and looking for grease to appear in the other. One thing however, you don't want to completely fill the gear with grease. Engine compartment heat will cause the grease inside the gear to expand. If there isn't an air pocket inside the gear, the grease will cause high pressures inside the gear and you could have seal leaks or worse. You could blow out the pitman shaft or input shaft seals.

JIML82