[tcb] Re: Steering Box Rebuild
- From: "Denis Dodson" <coocoo@xxxxxxx>
- To: <tcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 25 Nov 2011 08:41:09 -0600
Whadya mean, "this time"?
From: tcb-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:tcb-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Steve Chamberlain
Sent: Friday, November 25, 2011 8:09 AM
To: tcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [tcb] Re: Steering Box Rebuild
James, I agree with Will, if you are planning to drive the bus get a rebuilt
one. That being said I replaced my steering box with a WCM rebuilt one that
felt better at first (physiological) but now for every mile down the road I
go 1/2 mile sideways. Everything under the front end is new except the
center pin (that is next project) and Hankook tires but Dennis is right this
time it's still an old bus.
Instructions on my 'new' one said to use mixture of 90W gear oil with STP.
Gear oil is too thick but STP thins it down to lubricate without leaking.
On Wed, Nov 23, 2011 at 12:35 PM, sammie smith
<bugcollections@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Ok James; I screwed up again.
The early steering box DOES NOT HAVE A PLATE DOWN THERE. I have the front
of my panel up on jack stands doing brake work, so I looked closely and
pulled the two 10mm head 6mm bolts out. They only hold a small bracket that
holds the horn cable. The box is all one part there, unlike the later boxes
which have a removeable plate. BUT, what I did find is that the horn cable
appears to just have a rubber seal of some sort around the cable that
apparently is supposed to keep the gear oil from leaking out. Look closely
at yours. It sounds like to me (after closely looking at mine) that you are
leaking the gear oil out from around the horn cable. There is basically no
other place it could leak out down there. If so it looks like you could
give it a good coating of something like permatex #2 and stop the leak. Or
maybe try to cut a small rubber tube slit down the side and try to push it
in around the horn cable and then coat with permatex.
After closely examining the early steering box on my panel I can see only 3
possible places for a leak: Around the seal for the main shaft going to the
pitman arm (normal place for a leak), around the horn wire coming out of the
bottom of the box, and around the side plate of the box (on the left side
and bolted to the main body of the box. I seriously doubt it could have a
leak from #3 but you could try tightening the bolts up to proper torque.
Also: If you read the stuff on the Samba about gear oil in the box there is
a bunch of stuff about guys just filling it with grease from a grease gun.
I have never filled mine on the panel because it is already full. But I
stuck a probe in there and it appears to be a really thick grease like a
mixture of chasis grease and 90 weight gear oil. You might try that also.
The VW manual does call for regular 90 weight gear oil for the steering box.
--- On Tue, 11/22/11, James Dwan <james_dwan_2000@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From: James Dwan <james_dwan_2000@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [tcb] Steering Box Rebuild
To: "tcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <tcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tuesday, November 22, 2011, 9:21 AM
Has anyone had experience rebuilding a steering box on a splitty? Mine is
leaking like a sieve.
I was told by a local mechanic that there is no literature available on the
size of the seals in the box and the best way to do it would be to take it
apart and source the parts after removing them to get measurements.
Believe it or not this is the last thing I need done on this Bus to drive it
long distance!
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