original steering box oil/grease?

[silverbird#58]

[quote - heat up some STP on your wood stove.   pour it in ,  It s the racers edge.

[mbmd57]

57-59 steering boxes use 90wt gear oil not grease


Welcome to the forum, this post has to be moderator edited as it is incorrect info, but thanks for trying!! See Jim's post 2 below this one.
Rich

[KYBlueOval]

If you decide on switching to a '58 gear box, you might call Rob Pipenhagen in Minnesota. He is listed in the Salvage Yard listing here on the Forum. He has 20-25 '58 Fords.
John

[hiball3985]

57-59 steering boxes use 90wt gear oil not grease

Sorry but thats not correct info. 57 box is not like 58-59. 58-59 is a recirculating ball design and uses grease.

[RICH MUISE]

Thanks for the correction, Jim. I thought so, but hadn't paid much attention to steering box discussions because I don't have one, lol. I was waiting for someone to confirm what I thought.

[OUTLAW]

Pulled the 58 steering box off my car, turned it up on the steering wheel and black oil ran out of it. Don't remember what it smelled like...

[RICH MUISE]

Very strong possibilities that over 60+ years, some had the wrong lubrication done, particularly considering Ford did a change that I'm guessing not many owners were aware of. Got to remember for the many years these were 100. junkers many drove just to get them around town.

[59meteor]

Not to mention what 60+ years of service can do to various fluids. I know my 59s original steering box also oozed out some nasty black goo from the steering column shaft area when the column was removed, and the box tipped over. Similar, but not quite as nasty as the gear oil when I pulled the drain plug out of the rearend. I am guessing it was the original  gear oil, it sloooowly seeped out like pudding, and after draining overnight , and pulling the 3rd member out, there was a thick sludge inside the housing still. When Ford built these cars, I doubt that they ever considered some would still be on the road 60 years later, or how certain lubricating fluids would fare in so many years. Not like they specified a lubrication interval for steering boxes, or how you could possibly drain the oil lube.

[rmk57]

 
I took the cover off the steering box and added some solvent. Swished around with a small paint brush and sucked it out with a turkey baster, add more more solvent and repeat. After it it was  as clean as was it's going to get, I filled it up with 85-140w. It'll do until I come up with a better solution.

[KULTULZ]

There is (was) an upper seal actually dust and weather shield (B5S 3738-A) used on the 1955-1957 SAGINAW STEERING BOX. Most likely it deteriorated over the years or was destroyed if the inside components wore resulting in steering shaft slop.

There is an aftermarket seal available and was used on all ( not all) SAGINAW boxes of this design up through the GRANADA. Not sure of quality.

CORRECTION - I have entered some incorrect and confusing information during this conversation. Correction(s) in above post highlighted. Hopefully it will all be corrected in POST #27.

...my bad ...

[59meteor]

That kinda looks like the seal at the end of my 59s steering column. If it is, it looks more like a seal to keep dirt and water from going into the steering box. On my 59, the top of the box where the long shaft comes out, has a round tower, about 1" tall, that the seal and end of the steering column tube slide over, but it doesn`t actually ride on the steering shaft itself. Unless it is a different style of seal on a 57.

[gasman826]

My '64 box kept pushing grease out around the upper shaft.  I found the part # was available on one of the Mustang sites for a first gen Mustang.  The seal fit like it belonged and stopped the leakage.

[KULTULZ]

That kinda looks like the seal at the end of my 59s steering column. If it is, it looks more like a seal to keep dirt and water from going into the steering box. On my 59, the top of the box where the long shaft comes out, has a round tower, about 1" tall, that the seal and end of the steering column tube slide over, but it doesn`t actually ride on the steering shaft itself. Unless it is a different style of seal on a 57.

Correct you are . The seal I showed (B5S 3738-A) is for 1955-57 FORD. It is only a dust shield, not a true seal as the box was not pressurized. What is available now is a repro  and cannot be determined if it is a true copy.

The seal you are describing on your 59 is a dust shield also, although it is not showed in use until 1959 but the PN PREFIX indicates a 1959 PN (B9A 3674-A). Now the seal you are describing makes no contact with the steering shaft or could it be worn?

CORRECTION(S) - Shown above in highlighted text.

[hiball3985]

This is all interesting and confusing. I put in a 58 box and there was no seal. It must have been a later design change in 59 or 60.

[59meteor]

Correct you are . The seal I showed (B5S 3738-A) is for 1955-57 FORD. It is only a dust shield, not a true seal as the box was not pressurized. What is available now is a repro  and cannot be determined if it is a true copy.

The seal you are describing on your 59 is a dust shield also, although it is not showed in use until 1960 but the PN PREFIX indicates a 1959 PN (B9A 3674-A). Now the seal you are describing makes no contact with the steering shaft or could it be worn?

Yes, the 3674 seal is what i was refering to. But I see no way that it could actually ride on the shaft itself, as the seal slips over the bottom of the stering column tube, and the inside slips over the tower that you can see on the threaded upper adjusting collar that threads into the box. So the steering column tube slides over the tower, to near the bottom, so the seal is almost an inch below the exposed shaft, where it protrudes from the tower. The "tower" i am refering to, can be seen at the top of the 3A670 collar.
And for Hiball , Jim, can`t say for sure on a 58, but I would assume that Ford would have used some form of seal to prevent dust and water from migrating into the steering box, possibly your column had such a seal but over time disintegrated. I have parted out several 59s, and on some of them, the seal was mostly missing, and the remainder fell apart when the column was removed.