Steering Gear Box

[llamas1]

While adjusting my steering I noticed that my gear box is covered with
what looks like tar. Apparently there is not a drop of liquid in it
because it's all over the outside.

Other than refilling and cleaning up how concerned should I be about
this problem? It does steer and feel fine.

[ratwell]

Early steering boxes are expensive and the later style is not a simple bolt-up to the earlier frame so I'd be concerned unless you've got lot of money saved up for a rebuilt one in the future.

Clean and refill and see what happens. The forces inside are pretty great so I imagine the oil isn't optional.
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'78 Westfalia CDN
'76 Doublecab
Read the Baywindow FAQ

[keifernet]

So is it really oil?, I always refilled them with " lubriplate 105 "

I thought they came with more like grease in them that slowly " cooked down" over the years and weeped out the shafts/seals.

I filled one one time I think with gear oil and that shit leaked out in like a couple days... and after taking the top off a few bug boxes I decided grease was maybe what was suppose to be in them?

[ratwell]

Good question. I've seen the hole where the oil goes in. It's not impossible to reach but I don't know how grease would go in that way and grease is normally applied via zerk fitting which I don't see. I suppose some had factory grease and were "lubed for life" as long as life was less than 100,000km.

BB mentions:

[Amskeptic]

The correct lubricant is 90 wt gear oil. The tar is usually undercoating reacting with the detergent properties of a minor oil leak. Once a steering box decides to leak, it is going to leak, best that the innards be refreshed and seals be replaced and the proper viscosity lubricant is used.
The idiotic location of the fill plug tells you that the factory had confidence that the initial fill was the last fill required and/or that any refill is a disastrous day that requires that the box be out anyway. . . to replace seals for instance.

[moxnix]

When I first got the 70 Westy I had the same situation;
on my Dad's advice I filled it up with a mixture of 90 weight and Cv joint grease....
Its still in there.
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Ritterlich im Kriege, wachsam für den Frieden

[Adventurewagen]

So I have been planning to get under there and check out my steering box. Recently my steering has become near impossible. I have some other gaskets that need to be replaced, but figured it may be related to the gears in the steering box. Although after looking through my manuals at the box I am wondering if it is something else.

What can be the cause of really difficult steering. Are my tires just not correctly aligned after driving it so much this summer?

[moxnix]

Soft sidewall passenger tires can make steering super heavy....
Also- this summer I had to get under there with a big syringe and shoot some grease into the tie rod ends. I had replaced them a few years ago with the sealed type, and they were almost completely froze up.
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Ritterlich im Kriege, wachsam für den Frieden

[ratwell]

[Randy in Maine]

You guys are a lot braver than I am.

If my bus were steering hard, had vibrosis of the front end or if the steering box were leaking fluid, I would just get it re-built, or new tie rods/ball joints or what ever it needs. If I didn't know what the problem was, I would just take it to someone who did. This stuff is all pretty straight forward, there is little rocket science to these. Precious little.

These things are all pushing 30 years old, and weren't the best handling cars on the road when they were new! There are somethings you can do on the cheap and some things you can't. Get it rebuilt, fix it or buy it new, but make it work good like it is supposed to.

You only get one shot at living and this is it. Good, bad or otherwise, this is it.

[Adventurewagen]

[ratwell]

[Randy in Maine]

Adventure:

When you say "adjust the steering" are you talking about a front end alignment?

When they put it up on the lift they will be able to see exactly which parts are worn out. I would hazard a guess that difficult steering would either be partially siezed tie rods/ball joints, a bind in the steering box, or a binding steering damper. More likely to accur if the bus sat for a while in the past. Usually as that stuff wears out, it gets sloppy and "wandery" not stiff. Figure out what you feel comfortable doing and what you don't. (I personally don't do ball joints myself). Best to have them replace anything worn while it is there, since you don't want to have to do another alignment after the repairs.

Do the shocks/steering damper yourself and you can save a few bucks. The new tires should be a huge improvement in the drivability.

The only time I ever put fluid in the steering box I also used 90 weight oil, but my father always puts in straight "STP". He always said it gve it "the racer's edge." He probably learned that in his DeSoto!

[Adventurewagen]

Good advice guys. I always like to do as much work as I can do myself, but I think I am just going to have to suck it up and let somebody else do their work on my bus.