New steering box, floor, and pitman arm! Install tips.

[electronictofu]

No more Flinstone Floor Bus! Got the floor in today, still some final touches here and there but it's in.... I need a little help with the steering box.

1)
It's a new steering box from Bus Boys, so the markings lined up with my pitman arm and old box are gone. Is it spline specific, or does it install straight up? Not sure what to do.

2)
Tapping/ hammering (with a wood block), I think it may damage some internals?? Or press it on/ maybe use a large C-clamp?

3)
I see 90W hypoid oil is required. Some guys are using their own mix, is that only for older boxes so they don't leak? Im not familiar with hypoid, maybe steer me in a direction of a brand/type I can potentially find locally?

Thanks, as always... I owe someone a beer or two

[KevinAlbrecht]

3. Hypoid gear oil can be found at any local flaps. Castrol or royal purple are two brands that I have found.
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Kevin Albrecht
Wait, what...?

[quartermilecamel]

I just installed my ebay steering gear. Used but much better. Installed gear and steering wheel. Put steering wheel to the straight ahead position with wheels straight. Installed pitman arm that was still attatched to drag link after ensuring gear box was was in "center" position by rotating it stop to stop. Basically just install the pitman arm, and nut just snug, go drive around the block. If your happy with it, then torque pitman arm nut to spec and install cotter pin. If your not happy with it, you havn't torqued the nut to spec and the pitman arm will pop off easily to reposition it till the bus drives straight with the wheel straight. Now if you forget to torque pitman arm nut to spec, wellllll, ........your fired I speak from experience here because when I replaced my gear box seal 14 years ago I forgot to torque the nut and the pitman arm was actually a bit loose causeing some of the slop. So assuming your bus alignment is good then locating the pitman arm should be easy. The pitman arm does not press on when installing it just slides on and you torque the nut to spec. Now, if you have to remove a pitman arm that's been torqued to spec then yes you need a pitman arm puller. Using a bfh on a pitman arm will piss off your gear box
Have never bought a new steering gear so they may have an explaination as to that yellow line.

I mixed my own lube of 90 weight and cv boot grease
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Waiting for santa to drop off funky green. I can wish can't I????

[electronictofu]

Ahhh, makes sense now that I look at it. Thanks! I tried a couple places tonight, everyone has 80W-90, including Bugformance. Napa or Tognotti's here in Sacramento will probably have straight 90w. If not, is there another weight like 80w-90?

[quartermilecamel]

well napa has 90 weight in stay lube brand. 80w 90 will also work. Im quite enjoying my 90w and cv boot grease mix. Just added 90 weight to the packet of grease in a bowl and mixed it to pourable concistency of pancake batter. 80w 90w is the thinnest weight of the so called gear oil made that you can find on shelves. theres also 140 weight but its just your preference. I liked the pourable grease mix because I could coat a screw driver with it and smear it all around inbetween the 2 pivot shaft bushings then quickly insert the shaft, which made it fill the void between the 2 bushings.
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Waiting for santa to drop off funky green. I can wish can't I????

[electronictofu]

[quartermilecamel]

well yes I did fill the box with the cover off but you don't have to. I just filled it with cover off cause the box was on the ground. Then all I had to do was fill the amount the box cover itself held when installed through the fill hole. Then I wouldn't have a lot to fill by just using the fill hole. Btw wolfgang puts power punch and moly grease in their boxes.....you can even find their video on youtube. Shows how they mix theirs all the way to installing the box. I couldn't even find my small funnel so I just foled a piece of paper into a cone so while my son held the colume where the fill hole was straight up, I poured.
No, the screw driver I used for getting the mix on the actual gear box bushings that hold the shaft that pitman arm is on. I took out that shaft which has the peg on it that rides in the work gear groove. I had to take apart the box cause I bought it on ebay. must have had some moisture in it some how and with no oil in it, the aluminum cover somehow corroded. It was really weird because there were chunks floating all around inside so I took off the pitman arm, box cover, and just slid the main rotating pitman arm shaft out of the box and flushed it out several times. To insure my grease mix would be totally covering the bushings right away, I gobbed a bunch of it on the shaft of a screw driver to fill the void between the 2 bushings. Id guess it isn't necessary to do but I didn't want to wait for the grease to work its way into both bushings because its not supposed to leak as easy as 90 weight does hence slower flow. #1 common use for this type of mix is/was to prevent leaks, and/or leaking gear boxes. Its all over the internet on many forums so I guess its quite popular to mix 90 weight and moly grease.
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Waiting for santa to drop off funky green. I can wish can't I????

[electronictofu]

Wow, went to 5 different shops, no one has Power Punch gear lube. I did find a couple products in their line, but no HP gear oil. I found GL1 90 gear oil, I wonder if cutting that with a little Moly grease would be ok to thicken it up a bit? I may just go 90 for now.

Great video by Wolfgang, super helpful.
Pretty excited to get the column in today!

[quartermilecamel]

not exactly sure what the power punch was but just go get a bag of cv grease and dilute it with the 90weight till its pourable. If your set on getting the power punch just google it. it is mail orderable. I thought about but didn't do it. Not exactly sure power punch was a gear lube.
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Waiting for santa to drop off funky green. I can wish can't I????