Rack and Pinion Lubricant

Mike,

I have used a "flowable" grease with good results. My choice was engine assembly lube from NAPA. It comes in tubes, like a big toothpaste tube, and two tubes will give you way more than enough to really slather it in the whole steering rack and boots.

The assembly lube seems to be just the right consistency to a) be thin enough to lube everything in there, and b) is thick enough that it will not leak out.

As far as consistency (and color), imagine a nice dessert flan from a Mexican restaurant.




Jeff
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Here's a "lift" from a GT40 site that may be helpful:

"I'm kind of a guru on Pantera racks, which are the same as used in the Ferrari 308 and many other period cars. They were made under license by Cam Gears UK--yes, they're British! Very similar racks were used in most British cars, and the GT40 rack vaguely resembles it so I suspect that might be a Cam Gears rack as well.

Originally, they were lubricated with 80/90W gear oil. That worked reasonably well so long as the oil actually stayed in the rack. But when the boots became compromised, the oil would leak out, then the rack would run dry and wear would be greatly accelerated.

I've rebuilt about 100 Pantera racks (most recently, one yesterday) and a couple of Ferrari racks. A particularly anal (in a great way!) friend of mine with a Ferrari 308 actually telephoned TRW, who purchased Cam Gears many years ago and continues to make their racks, and spoke with their tech department asking for advice on what to use to fill them.

The engineers there told him that using gear oil was a very old-school method, and that production cars have almost all switched to using a very lightweight and 'slippery' grease. He said to skip the gear oil and use O-weight grease instead (that's how their new racks are filled).

I searched high and low and couldn't find a reasonable source of O-weight grease (except in a 55-gallon drum, no thanks!). However, CRC engine assembly lube is rated at 0 to 1/2 weight, which is pretty damn close. The first 50 or so racks I rebuilt were filled with oil; after I learned about the grease I switched to this CRC engine assembly lube and have never looked back. It delivers a very smooth action, with the greatly added advantage of not ever leaking out. "

 

I have a bellows that's shot. where did you get your dust boot?
thanks.

 

Mike - sorry, I have no personal expertise on these particular steering racks and don't know what the procedure is to put lubricant in them. Old Brit car racks that I have disassembled/rebuilt had grease fittings (which were actually "oil" fittings) and the instructions said "X" pumps of the grease gun (with oil in it) and/or stated the amount of oil in ounces to inject into the rack through those fittings. It seems to me that if you wanted to convert to grease from oil, the only way to do it is to disassemble the rack and grease the parts unless there is a fitting that you could just inject grease into, forcing the oil out of the rack at the (disconnecting) steering boots.

But I'm sure there are folks here who know for sure how to do this.

 

Mike,

It is easy. I took off both boots, squeezed as much of the 0 weight grease as I could through the opening on each end of the body of the rack and pinion, ran the steering wheel to one extreme, put a liberal amount of grease on the rack (it will protrude several inches from the body of the rack and pinion), ran it the other way, did the same to the other side. Repeated a few times, put some grease in the boots and reassembled.

If I remember correctly, I think I put a small diameter hose over the end of the tube of grease so I could squirt a bunch of it directly into the area where the steering shaft comes down into the rack.

In other words, apply as much of the grease as you can to anything in sight. It won't hurt anything.

Good luck, Jeff

 

I just finished both of mine.
I removed the front underpan below the coolant connections & it made life easier.
One bellows was ripped. But since I'm sending her for an alignment, I did both. The inner connection was a thin hose clamp. That made life easier. The outter end I used a tie-tie.

I expected the ripped bellows to be dry, but it wasn't bad at all. I'm guessing it wasn't ripped too long.
The other side was a ferrari repair job like 8 years ago when the rack was replaced and was pretty darn dry. I used one tube of CNC motor rebuild on each side.
that should keep her happy until the bellows gets replaced again. And they will as I think these are generics & I had to cut the length to fit the ends. No biggy, but with all the flexing from the extra length, I suspect the plastic to crack again from contracting onto itself after a few years.

And I'm not comfortable with the re-assembly being spot-on, so it's off for an alignment hopefully this week.

 

Good evening Chatters,

Several folks have been asking about oil for steering rack boots and how much to put in.

I believe the correct answer is that no lube should be put in boots.

I do not have a rack out of a 308 but if you look at the parts book it shows two access plates on the rack. One will be a pressure spring to set some tension on the rack and pinion. I am not sure what will be under the other plate but it is there that I would add
your lube of choice. The owners manual calls for 90 weight gear lube. I think I would use a really good high pressure low weight grease. Perhaps the stuff that goes into a constant velocity joint.

In any event if the factory is suggesting/asking for 90w gear oil this should mean there is a seal at each end of the rack to keep that oil in place and not out into the boots.

Just saying.............

Safe Driving !!

 

Lotus Elans/Europas used the same Cam Gears racks and the specified method was to pump gear oil right into the boots by using an oil can poked into the end of the boot.

While on the subject, on these racks the boots usually dont have any air vent hole. So if the steering is rapidly rotated left/right while the car is jacked up, by grabbing a wheel and quickly pulling to each opposite lock, the boot can burst owing to air pressure.
This happened to me once on a Lotus Europa. It was done by an MOT tester (MOT = UK annual roadworthiness test). I had a massive argument with him as he failed the car owing to leaking boot which he had just caused!

 

internationallautoparts

I just bought 2.


Cheeper.... to Get the Fiat Parts.

Boot, Steering
Item No.: 23408
Price: $6.50
Stock Status; In Stock
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While changing the brake fluid I noticed both steering boots were shot.
However, the link above is dead.

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And Centerline doesn't carry Fiat. On their web site is :
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If you are looking for vintage FIAT parts, please contact our friends at Auto Ricambi. You can call them at (682) 233-3428 or visit their web site at www.autoricambi.us.

I dont recall exactly which ones I bought, but I *think* they were for a 1966-1985 Fiat Spider 124 Driver side. The spider has asymmetrical boots. You dont want the passenger side.

Anyway, that's if your motivated.
GT Car parts has them for $11