Technical STP for Steering Box Lube?

Was talking to a buddy last night and he mentioned he has always used straight STP in his steering boxes as a lubricant. I wasn't aware it could be used for that. I'm curious to know if anybody has/is using it?

 

I haven't used STP before. I have used "0" weight grease used on ag combines for the corn head gear box. It has worked well for me.

 

Yes. I wouldn't put it in a motor, shit is nasty. Works real good in steering gear boxes and is available everywhere.

 

Often heard that circle track guys did this.

 

No! STP is not really a lubricant, it is a heavy dose of viscosity index improvers (long chain polymers, plastic) in a simple base oil. I wouldn't use that crap in anything, let alone use it as the sole lubricant in a steering box. This is one of those things where you just have to let people tell what they do, smile, and walk away.

 

I just used bearing grease in my manual box after rebuilding it, it's worked fine for the past 7 years. HRP

 

Second for 0 or 00 grease. Used to be you could buy steering box lube but it's kind of disappeared.

STP made neat stickers....I never had any use for their products.

 

MSDS says it's mineral oil and 1 to 4.9% of this stuff: CALCIUM LONG-CHAIN ALKYLPHENATE SULPHIDE

Is that really gonna lose the war for the allies??

 

I thought it was strange to hear that coming from him. He's been doing this a lot longer than I have and I hadn't heard of using it before. Funny thing is, I told him I use John Deere corn head grease and he had never heard of it until I mentioned it.

 

I've heard of Lucas oil stabilizer used in manual steering box, but not STP. I also use Corn head grease.

 

It works VERY well. I have been using Power Punch, which is basically the same thing, for 50 years.
Bardahl makes a similar product also.

Here is a short blurb I wrote several years ago.

Since some folks are not familiar with the HAMB and search engines, I will type this out again.
First off we are talking about steering gears with a worm and roller or a worm and pin as typical in old Fords.
With the car sitting on the floor rig up a spring scale to the steering wheel rim so you can measure force needed
to move the front wheels..Rig a dial indicator on the left front tire to measure movement..With plain 90w or 140w oil
in the steering box and the wheels set straight ahead pull on the scale until the front wheel moves say 2 inches and
record the scale reading..Repeat several times to get a good number..The actual number does not matter..
Now, drain the steering box completely..This may take overnight or longer if you have some really thick goo in it..
Refill with straight POWERPUNCH..
Cycle the steering completely back and forth several times.
Now, repeat the former test and record the results..
The force required will be considerably less.
If you don't want to be bothered with all this just take it out and drive it.
We have had a lot of people come back and say it now feels like power steering.
Not only will your car steer much easier, the steering gear will now live longer than you will.

AND YES, I know how and what it is supposed to be used for but the scale does not lie. It reduces force required to turn the steering wheel. It works best straight. Maybe is is all voodoo.

 

John Deere Cornhead Grease in the 37 Hudson box in my deuce pu.

 

when i was a kid i had a 36 chevy standard. the wimpy transmission would not hold gear lube, and the dumb kid could not stop the leaks, and therefore burned up a tranny every summer. for a while, i could still find them in junk yards, but once that source dried up i built one up from the best parts i had, and filled it with straight stp. never had another problem. now granted that was not a high mileage car, but it worked. today i run it in my 34's, and model a's steering box's. corn head grease is wonderful stuff too if you have a leaker. happy 4th every one!

 

Corn head grease

 

Exactly and Amen

It got used in Houdaille shocks as well.

 

I use JD corn head grease. Put it in the leaky CJ3A Jeep steering g box I own and no more leaks. When things move it is liquid, when they are still it is a solid. Kind of like catsup.

 

Here's a lab analysis of STP:

As I said above, it's basically some long chain polymers intended to increase the viscosity of the oil blended into some base oil, it also has a little phosphorus and zinc.

I don't know about losing the war for the allies, but there's very little there to protect the internal gears of a steering box. I doubt the military would approve of it's use....

 

Corn Head grease. The JD dealer is right up the road

 

It may be nasty, but many moons ago I put in in an old oil burner/leaker engine and it worked....for a while. Thats about the thickest, stickiest stuff I ever worked with.

 

There will be conversation about the pros and cons of this stuff as long as it exists, just like which is better 6 or 12 volts. It is plain to see from the analysis what makes it work in hard bearing applications.
The bottom line is, it makes these type of steering boxes turn easier and easier is less stress, so they last longer.
Just because you don't believe in the laws of physics doesn't mean they do not apply to you.

 

We used white lithium grease in manual steering gears on semis, I imagine it would work in cars as well

 

Why not use Worm Steering Box Lube that's made for those steering boxes..

 

Quote["The bottom line is, it makes these type of steering boxes turn easier and easier is less stress, so they last longer."]Quote

Just as a side note, you can use LARD and it works fine. It is VERY cheap also. It will only last a year or so though.

 

Just use a grease that’s designed for steering bix’s, seems like the thing to do

 

I have only ever found one use for STP, and that was for doing burnouts, really smokie burnouts Too. When I was a kid in Mt Pleasant Texas we would take a can of STP and smear it all over our rear tires. We were all poor country boys and nothing we owned would do a big burn out on it's on. That crap is so damn slick the truck ( all we drove were farm trucks) would just set there and smoke the hell out of the tires. Smoke cloud was so big the Fire Dept would be called sometimes. Cool thing when your 14.

Now I find out today it was those "long String Polymers", had I known that at the time it might not have been so much fun.

 

Corn head grease in my Studebaker.

 

I use lubriplate white lithium assembly grease. Most any heavyweight oil will work. I have also used chassis grease in worn boxes with good success. Is it correct, probably not, but it also is not rocket science. Some lube is better than no lube.

 

STP in my 40 and my neighbors 50 fords steering boxes

 

Yet another vote for corn head grease.

 

In my first life, I have installed zerk fittings on steering boxes and pumped in chassis lube. Worked fine and didn't leak. As far as STP being a lubricant or not, I used it for decades as engine assembly lube on crank and cam. Never had a failure. When I worked in a parts store, the selling trick was to dip a flat blade screwdriver in the stuff and let the customer try hold it by the blade with the handle hanging down. They usually couldn't.