Brad (or toyman?),
There is a long-running commentary on whether to use gear oil or grease in
your steering rack. Here is a synopsis afaik:
The manual for early cars calls for gear oil. Apparently, the manual for
later cars calls for grease, though I've never had occasion to read a
manual for a later car. Some sources (e.g., the Moss catalog) go so far as
to state "Use 80 or 90 weight gear oil for steering rack lubrication, never
use grease." OTOH, many on this list use grease and report no problems. My
take on this is:
Benefits of using grease: (1) grease is less prone to leak out of the boots
or at the pinion and (2) grease guns are easy to buy and comparatively less
messy, meaning (3) you're more prone to actually service the rack.
Problems with using grease: (1) the manual calls for gear oil; (2) it is
hard to see how grease will get to all of the points that need lubrication,
given that the zerk fitting is at one end of the rack; (3) because grease
won't as easily leak from cracked boots, you may be allowing dirt into the
boots (they keep lube in _and_ dirt out) .
Benefits of using oil: (1) the manual says to; (2) it should be able to get
to all points needing lube.
Problems with using oil: (1) it's hard to get a good oil gun (see below for
solutions); (2) it can be messy if you're boots are in bad shape (but at
least you know when the boots need replacing).
To lube without the marine oil gun, simply unscrew the zerk fitting (clean
around it first), add oil into the hole until it dribbles out, then replace
the zerk fitting. Ten minute job, tops.
Hope this helps,
Jeff
---
On 6/5/99, toyman@htcomp.net wrote:
>> I have one of those miniature grease guns ( I probably have 2 ... ) but the
>> ones that I have, fill with cartridges, and the only cartridges that I can
>> find are lithium grease.
>>
>For the un/underducated,what is the problem with lithium grease? All this
>talk
>had me checking out my gun and it's just a W*l-M*rt fall apart,Plews,and my
>cartidges use a litium based grease.Have I comitted a major faux pas,please
>answer cuz ya gots me worried,Brad
Jeffrey H. Boatright, PhD
Senior Editor, Molecular Vision
http://www.molvis.org/molvis
"Seeing the Future in a Very Tiny Way"
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