Tie rod and drag link question ?

[Lawrie]

Re the lubrication of the white teflon seats, I fitted a set to my 33, greased them well on assembly , BUT on my trip away in the 33 last month,(4600 kms) way out in the sticks ,the steering started to seize up on right hand turns, scared the hell out of me, first thought was the steering box, but dropping the drag link it was as smooth as, looking at the teflon seats they were dry, so lubed them again and that was the problem, the balls are all good .
I need to investigate this more thoroughly now I'm back home
Lawrie

 

[SAXBY2]

see quote from the net about petroleum products and plastics

 

[SAJ]

"Rubber and plastic" is a too general term. Many plastics and rubbers resist petroleum oils and greases. For example nitrile rubber O rings and oil seals are designed for oil lubricated systems. Nylon is available as a plastic impregnated with oils. Etc etc.
Teflon or ptfe as it is called resists most chemicals even at elevated temperatures. It is available filled with many different reinforcements. Glass-filled Teflon has negligible cold creep except under very high pressures and is white. Most other filled Teflon are darker coloured. Carbon, graphite, molybdenum disulphide, bronze are just a few other fillers designed for higher load carrying or lubricity.
Teflon is fine with petroleum oils. I would not use silicone grease since it is poor lubricant for ths steel in the ball, but better than nothing. Silicone is good for urethane bushes which do not like petroleum grease and those plastics that don't like it too. For natural or butyl rubbers a castor oil based rubber grease is best, because greases containing silicone oils can soften and "plastisize" some rubbers.
SAJ in NZ