Gemmer steering box

Gwill65074

Gwill65074

Senior Member
My 1930 Tudor has a Gemmer steering box with the letter F on the engine side. I believe it is a two tooth and would adjust the same as Ford's two tooth. My question is, the box does not have a plug to fill it through, instead it has a grease cup on top. Am I wrong in thinking this only uses grease to lube the box? Thanks.
 
The grease fitting was put in quite often. But, then, folks would pump grease into it. As a kid [ Ford garage] we did it but used a grease gun filled with the heavy oil.
 
The proper lube for the gear box would be 600W or its equivalent, same as transmission or rear end. No grease. Grease does not flow where it needs to go. There are some Penrite products that should work. John Deere Corn Head grease, has different flow characteristic then just grease.
 
Thanks, I've ordered some 600w and I'll try to get as much grease out of it as I can and replace it with the 600. Thanks again guys for helping me.
 
The "F" cast marking indicates that the unit was made by Ford since both Ford & Gemmer made them. Gemmer made units had the patent markings on them until later in 1930 or so when they had no markings at all. The Gemmer boxes will detach from the column and have a clamp there to secure the two together. The 7-tooth units had the box integral with the column and can not be removed.
 
Thank you. I pulled the grease cap and fitting of today and got a lot of the grease out of the box. Afterwards I put about 1/2 oz. of 600 in it to see if it is going to leak out later today. Thanks again for the information.
 
Gwill65074 said:
Thank you. I pulled the grease cap and fitting of today and got a lot of the grease out of the box. Afterwards I put about 1/2 oz. of 600 in it to see if it is going to leak out later today. Thanks again for the information.
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I think thats the easiest thing to do.

Just dig out what you can and add the oil. Don't worry though, it'll leak.
 
The lower bearing plate with the tube on it will sometimes crack at the bottom of the tube & leak. The lower housing seal under the bellville washer can also leak due to deterioration. Worn out sector shaft bushings will leak too.

A person can modify the sector housing for needle bearings and a lip seal which may slow the oil loss a good bit. There are still a few areas that normally seep and can be dealt with during overhaul but over time may start seeping again.
 
600W works out to between a 180 and 240 weight oil.

Ford went to 140 before I came along and we always had a drum of it hanging around. I could never notice a difference between any of them.

I think the A now has 250 in it as I didn't like any of the 600W available as it foamed too much to suit me.
 
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