Few months back I installed a junk yard s10 steering gear box. Went out to the garage and found me a nice little puddle under it. The lower pitman seal is leaking badly. I called gm and they told me its discontinued. Called autozone and after explaining the different between and lower pitman seal and an axle found out they dont have it either. Oreilly has the whole unit (no good there), Napa says they may have it (not a whole lot of confidence there). I wanted to see if anyone has rebuilt one of these or atleast resealed them and what seals to use from where and what fluid these things take. It looks like ATF on the floor but i wanna make sure.

 

Isn't the manual steering box full of grease?

 

if thats all its supposed to have in it i have a big problem. It has seriously leaked a good 3-4 inch diameter puddle of what looks like ATF. It didnt leak at all for probably 6 months now. I wont be turning the unit until i get the leak fixed obviously but if this thing is only supposed to have bearing grease in it i may need to take it apart and check it out which is fine, can do, just need a diagram or manual, which i dont have.

 

Im always scared of stuff like that when I buy stuff from the junkyard. They give you a 30 day warranty usually, but that doesnt help much.

I'm not sure how that steering box is supposed to be serviced, but is it a zerk fitting? Or just a cap that you pack in grease?

The ATF (or power steering fluid) probably just ate the seal, I doubt it hurt much else. When you drain it let it drain for a while, any residual will thin out the grease.

 

Rebuilding a steering box isn't part of general maintenance just like rebuilding an automatic transmission isn't. Usually it requires a specific manual or generals gearbox manual. None of my automotive manuals go into detail on how to rebuild a steering box but some of the older manuals I have say to use recommended lubricant or gear lube which to me would mean something like 80w90. All my heavy truck manuals deal with power steering boxes.

Steering box seals are normally a dealer or specialized repair shop part. Search the phone book for hydraulic repair shops that deal in steering components.

 

I've found in the past that if you ask NAPA for an older part they have trouble finding it, BUT if you have a part number, then they can. So if you can get the part number, you might be in better luck.

 

OK, well im getting some seals coming from ISS (an aftermarket dealer that our dealership uses) and gonna see if they work. If not ill try NAPA. I havent taken the box off or even looked at it that closely, i will when i get home. I have no idea where the fill area is or if its a plug or a zerk. As far as a manual goes i guess im pretty SOL. These boxes werent seen often even in 86 much less now and unfortunately all the older techs and old dealer service manuals that i have access to are in japanese car lines. So, firstly i will find some seals for the unit, and then i will start dismantling it and see what ive got (ill include pictures for yall if need be). In the meantime if anybody has access to a dealer SM or any info about fluid type and dissasembly procedure please let me know
Batass - your tellin me the first one i got was nearly locked solid, so i returned in for this one which moved smoothly and at the time didnt leak
Stephen - I would imagine that it would use 80-90 or grease i guess it will tell me more if i find a zerk fitting. I will dismantle it and find out for sure whats in there, at this point i imagine there might be a mixture of fluids in there now : (

 

Even with grease, there won't be a zerk. It would be packed with grease then assembled. Putting a zerk on it is too easy to put too much in. I'll have to look at the ones I have in my garage. I know they don't have a zerk and I have no idea how they would be filled with oil.

 

ok i removed it and matched up some seals. I assume i need to remove the lock nut and the 4 bolts on the cover first. The kit i have details how to rebuild a power box but not a manual, but i guess it is similar. I included some pictures. I know a few steering and susp guys i can ask tomorrow before i tear into it. let me know if yall find anything out. There is no fill plug or zerk by the way.

 

there is also a large nut on the front of the box that i assume will unscrew the cover.

 

Rebuilding a manual box isn't the same as building a power assist box but it's easier. The nut and adjusting screw on the top cover is for backlash adjustment.

 

i figured it be easier, less seals, springs and valves but the instructions look similar so i may use them for an idea. yea i know about the backlash ive replaced and adjusted more than enough racks and boxes but ive never taken one apart and i dont want to unbolt something and it be spring loaded or it all fall apart and have no idea which teeth i need to match on the gears. In the dealer world we do a whole lot of R&R and not a whole lot of rebuilding so that knowledge gets rusty, or non-existent. I will be taking it apart this weekend and i will let yall know how it goes.

 

okay, so it is supposed to be filled with grease, looks like the grease is so old its hardening and its excreting a lighter fluid that is leaking past the seals, which are no bueno. SO found the seals at NAPA, had to order them, find out tomorrow if they are correct and ill let yall know. To

 

dissasemble, I removed the 4 cover bolts and the lock nut from the lash adjuster. i centered the input shaft and took an air hammer to the cover to sep. the pitman shaft and gear come up through the top with the use of a brass hammer and some back and forth with the worm gear. this is as far as ive gone till i can ensure i have the right seals.

 

Wow the grease separated.

 

i guess so, i originally thought the fluid looked red like atf but now that i can scoop it out it definately looks like a lighter 80-90 fluid, almost like what lucas engine oil looks like. probably should have rebuild this unit from the get go. 22 years is a long time for the grease and seals. however the gears look great and didnt have any excessive play to speak of.

 

ok so seals look good napa part #s are 7905 and 12329, the rest is childs play and grease

 

You should find out exactly what kind of grease to use. Regular EP2 is probably too light. Don't use axle grease, it's too heavy. It probably needs some sort of moly or synthetic grease. Flaming River recommends a high temperature red lithium grease. Some CV joint grease will probably work well.

Approximately 12oz should be enough.

 

Maybe the problem started because it got too hot from the headers? Maybe it heated up and separated, and the thin ran out.

Could that be a possibility?

 

what is in there now has a greenish brownish color to it. looks like cv grease or bearing grease so i may use that. i have been unable to find any literature about this so far. so i will compare some grease to what i have and go from there. btw the 7905 worm shaft seal is wrong, too small. I figure its age, the motor hasnt been fired since the box was put in so its not heat. Its sitting on my work bench and leaking fluid out slowly i will see if i can get a good picture of the grossness.

 

after you first got this box, did you swap the pitman arm on it? if so, did you heat it up before you took it off?

(thinking of a way for the seal to have been damaged)

 

For more info on a manual steering box, I would suggest finding on old oval track racer. Until rack and pinions became popular, the "hot" ticket was using a quick-ratio non-power steering box which usually had a Corvette worm and sector gear.

Off the top of my head, a call to HOWE racing (in the midwest), or a similar builder, may help on the proper grease and set-up.

Just a thought.

jms

 

There are quick ratio manual boxes but none are on S10's. The quick ratio manual box was on some first get Camaros. The box is different and smaller with the 3 bolt top cover. It's not a direct fit into a third gen.

 

Agreed.

However, the oval track racers that I spoke of would know what grease worked in the set-up of the old steering boxes.

With that said, I have a 1992 GMC Sonoma (think S-10). Not long after getting the little truck, I purchased a set of GM service manuals for the Sonoma/S-10 line of vehicles.

I just remembered this as I was working on this post.

In the steering section, the recommended lubricant for manual steering boxes is .315 kg (11oz) of lubricant GM4673M or equivalent. (On page 3B2-3 of the 1992 light duty truck unit repair manual)

jms

 

i confered with the best SS guy i know and found that the equivalent to 4673 would be a gm general purpose chassis and stearing gear grease. Valvoline makes some that i picked up for a few bucks. The worm shaft seal seems to be unobtainable through regular parts stores so i will be having a hydraulic and steering rebuild specialist facility to get one. This has turned into a much bigger ordeal than i first thought thanks to parts availability. Diggler, I didnt do anything at all with the seals, hardly used the steering at all really much less heated it up. I think the seals were at the end of their life. They are almost as old as me. However i think the "separation" of the grease is what caused this lighter visc fluid to leak as i assume these seals werent meant to hold it. I cant offer any idea as to why it just now started leaking out now with the car not in use. I am in texas and it is 105 outside maybe that played a part

 

OK another question... This box will turn 3 full revolutions at the input shaft. I thought that it should be 7?

 

Is it timed properly when you put it back together?

 

it should be timed the same as it was, i havent removed the worm shaft yet. it only turns 3 from lock to lock

 

ill try and check mine later this evening, but i believe that the ws6 box that came out of the car is 2.5 turns lock to lock. or was that 3.5?

 

ws6??

 

Ok so things i learned. 7 turns lock to lock, i had a crappy box (ebay). Input seal is nearly impossible to find (dont use oreillys). If you ever have the need, discountsteering.com are some good people. have a nice day

 

The manual box on my S10 is super hard to turn and has alot of slop. I never even realized they were adjustable; I really need to get mine off and lube/adjust it. Keep up the info I really want to get this done. My friends 4 cylinder S10 is so easy to steer and has no play in the wheel, I need that! This sloppy loose box is killing me.

 

What year gear boxes do i need to look for i wanna put that in my car,

 

I know it's been a while, but I went out soon after my last posting and tightened my steering box, I did it from the top with a allen wrench and a wrench, the box took over 2 FULL TURNS to get where it was supposed to be, it is a WORLD better now. I can't believe I drove the thing like it was, it was AWFUL.

 

84+ are a direct bolt in although you should use the third gen pitman arm to keep the same steering geometry. The 84+ steering box has a 4 bolt top cover. The earlier ones have a 3 bolt top cover and take a little more work to adapt because of the different sized input and output shaft sizes.

S10 manual steering boxes were only available in S10's that had the 2.5L 4 cylinder engine but not all 2.5L S10's had manual steering.