steering gear leaking

marty in Ohio

marty in Ohio

Well-known member
Here's a new one on me. Today I went out to the garage and found that the gear lube had leaked out of the steering gear on my '30 town sedan with a two tooth box. The gear was rebuilt two years ago and never showed a drop on the garage floor. When I looked underneath I found that the 600W was running down the pitman arm. When I got the car, 28 years ago the gear was full of chassis grease. The car was parked for 6 days. What would cause the lube to run out so fast?
Marty
 
Hmmm. I don't know. I will say this though. Sector shaft bushings are not the same as water pump bushings. Yes they fit, but only one half of the bushing(s) have a lubricant groove. The water pump ones have groves all the way across. Watch what your supplier ships to you! I got mine at Sacramento Vintage years ago. I have a 7-tooth.
 
If it was rebuilt two years ago with needle bearings and a seal on the end of the housing, then the seal has failed. If it was rebuilt with bushings, then the sector bushings have worn.
 
I’ve seen the sector almost dry on some and the box packed with grease . Worse is as mentioned about no groove in the bush
 
Marty,

I have solved the same problem very simple. On the outer end of the gear sector shaft, I slipped a tight O-ring over against the gear case. Then the shaft on this area coated with thin bearing grease. Then spread a lot of silicone sealant all around and then mounted the steering against the side plate.

This is now 1 year/2000 ml over and it comes out very rarely some oil haze.
 
Thanks for all your posts. Since I refilled the steering gearbox with 600W nothing has dripped out. Can't figure this one out. Another Model A friend suggested filling the box with John Deere cornhead grease if the 600W runs out again. For right now I'm just going to keep and eye on it. I'll report if the original problem continues.
Thanks for all the suggestions.
Marty
 
Found the JD cornead to liquify/separate with use and heat. Removed it and used 1500w (or Penrite as suggested). Most of the vendors' 600w is essentially modern 140wt. gear lube.
 
I've researched a little on Penrite. I see it comes from New Zealand and there is a distributor on the west coast, but I can't find it locally. Somewhere I saw that it was available at Summit Racing, but when I checked their website there was nothing called Penrite. So where do you find it. By the way still no new leaks.
Marty
 
I have dealt with this on used and rebuilt boxes not only for Model A Fords but my '37 and a '39 V8 Ford. Penrite is the answer.
 
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