Steering box

[davidwheeler]

I've got the box out of Old Boot.   The bearings on the transverse shaft, that has the worm wheel on it, are spherical and knack-ed.   Is it required that they be spherical (to allow adjustment of the wheel re. the worm) or will standard bearings do?

[davidwheeler]

It would seem no-one wants to venture an opinion so I asked my local supplier and he recommended spherical (self-aligning) bearings which I have fitted.  The old ones seemed to have failed because of water ingress so I have pumped the box full of grease (what a lot of grease it takes) and put it back on the car.  Feels lovely so far!   Not cheap, £69 for the two of them.

[JohnMillham]

Are they not meant to have thick oil in them? Or the Penwright sticky grease made specially for steering boxes which have a tendency to leak? Not sure it makes much difference, anyway.
Regards, John

[chugga boom]

on a Landrover the front axle swivels originally use oil , as the steering swivels wear and the seals wear (usually from rusty swivel balls )they leak like hell , as a modification Landrover sell a special grease that's thick enough not to leak but thin enough to lubricate the cv joint in the axle . in 2006 when we built my fathers augusta we couldn't stop the oil seal leaking on his steering box , this resulted in a hell of a mess down the inner wing so we tried a tube of the Landrover grease , it works so well that I now use it in all my customers sliding pillar cars as most suffer with the same fault , usually wear on the output shaft of the steering box which won't seal to anything , both our Augustas  have done considerable millage with the grease in and no problems however I must stress that it is a very unique grease designed for a similar application , hope you find this useful 

[JohnMillham]

on a Landrover the front axle swivels originally use oil , as the steering swivels wear and the seals wear (usually from rusty swivel balls )they leak like hell , as a modification Landrover sell a special grease that's thick enough not to leak but thin enough to lubricate the cv joint in the axle . in 2006 when we built my fathers augusta we couldn't stop the oil seal leaking on his steering box , this resulted in a hell of a mess down the inner wing so we tried a tube of the Landrover grease , it works so well that I now use it in all my customers sliding pillar cars as most suffer with the same fault , usually wear on the output shaft of the steering box which won't seal to anything , both our Augustas  have done considerable millage with the grease in and no problems however I must stress that it is a very unique grease designed for a similar application , hope you find this useful 

Very useful James. The Penrite stuff is likely to be very similar, but more expensive!
Regards, John

[DavidLaver]

http://www.landroverclub.net/Club/HTML/SwivelHousing.htm

A quote from that:

It comes in a plastic tube and has a greenish color. One tube contains exactly what 1 swivel housing needs. You warm the bag in some hot water, cut the upper part and insert it into the filling hole. One shot and it's done. But you must first turn the steering to full lock to clear the internal parts off the hole so the grease can easily flow in.

Part number is STC3435

Some guys living in colder areas have reported problems with that grease in long periods of low temperatures. If I'd live in such a part of the world I'd also keep to the usual 80W90 stuff.

If you don't want to use this grease you can also mix up a thicker oil by using 90W oil and axle grease. Thouroughly mix it and put it in. You may want to warm it up to make it easier to put inside.

[chugga boom]

that's the stuff , myself and dad have had no problems with it in our Landrovers either 

[BlueSky]

Also run the Penrite in the Aprilia steering box, no leaks and steering is fine.

What's that Land Rover motto again? "If it's not leaking it's empty". Had three of the buggers over the years...

Noel

[Dikappa]

Since my question is steering box related, thought of revyving this old topic, hope that's ok?

Has anyone any experience in replacing/renewing the rope oil seals? Does one buy rope of appropriate size and cut to lenght and push it into the groove? (makes me think of Madonna somehow)

On taking the box appart I found them quite disintegrated any way so peeled them out.
Or is it common practice to machine the parts and replace the seals with modern oil seals?

I intend to use the more greasy stuff as discribed in this topic so would guess rope seals would do fine.

If a supplier is know for this stuff would be happy to learn!

Thanks,

Koen

[the.cern]

Hello Koen, I have no idea about the original seal  for your steering box, but I suggest you google 'best gasket graphite rope seal'. I have used this type of material on a boat propellor shaft and it may be what you are looking for. It comes in a range of sizes so you will need to measure the groove, if you get it wrong first time its not that expensive ...... !!!!

Good luck and please let us know how you get on!!!

                                          Andy