I recently had my F1 steering box rebuilt (with a custom length shaft and keyway) by a super great rebuilder who is a NASCAR mechanic and machinist. The work was done promptly and the box came back painted and is smooth as silk, and I am very, very happy with it! It was a greasy mess with very notchy steering before, and the shaft had been spliced together and the keyway was clocked crooked so that I couldn't have a straight steering wheel with the box in the middle of its travel. All of that is fixed now. The rebuilder encouraged me to use 600W oil instead of cornhead grease so that I could be sure the sector was always lubricated. I filled it with oil (did not overfill it) and mounted it in my frame, where it has been for over 6 months while I slowly work on other aspects of the build. Just sitting there, the box has started to seep oil. It is leaking around one of the bolts that hold on the end plate (the bottom cover with the horn wire hole in it), and it looks like oil is wicking thru the paper gaskets that seal the end plate. They are slow leaks (just a seep really), but I expect it will get worse with time and will get worse with a little exhaust heat, and will get worse with driving the car. Now, I understand that those paper gaskets are what is used to set the lash between the worm gear and the sector, so I don't want to screw up what a great job the rebuilder did by getting too creative with gasket materials..... And my exhaust is gonna run under the steering box, and I'd rather not have a greasy head pipe... Is there a sealer I should put on the paper gaskets to make them less absorbant to the oil? The rebuilder sent me a stack of paper gaskets so that I can swap them based on the thickness that is already there. Any ideas out there from folks who have dealt with this, or do I just need to accept a little drip from a slow leak in the steering box, and call it "traditional" and move ahead?
If it's leaking around the bolts I would put bolt sealer on them. JD corn head grease is what I use for restoration work because of the seepage.
Take out the suspect bolt, clean the threaded hole, and the bolt. Apply a generous amount of black high temp silicone in the hole, and the bolt threads. Tighten the bolt, and wipe off the excess silicone. The lube is taking the path of lease resistance, and coming out around the bolt hole. Seal it up, and your done.
When filling with cornhead grease, do you just pack it down the oil fill hole till it won't come out, or do I need to disassemble the box and pack it with the side cover off?
the reason for using cornhead grease instead of normal #2 grease, is that it flows.I would not pack it full, it should only need about a pint at most, probably less. I always put thread sealer on the bolts before assembling a steering gearbox. But I also expect 70 year old stuff to seep some oil...it's the way they are. If I didn't want any oil leaking anywhere, I'd buy a new car.
You might not believe this but my steering box was leaking pretty bad on the Plymouth .I tried all the snake oil stuff. Finally I put some rear main engine sealer in it and it stopped it from leaking. Bruce.
The last time I rebuilt my F-1 box in my sedan (a few years ago) I glued the gaskets with that thin red gasket sealer after I determined the proper gasket thickness. I didn't seem to make any difference on the clearance. And I put low strength Loctite on the bolt threads to act as a sealer there too. I filled the box with as much John Deere cornhead grease as I could fit in there. Just squirted in in with the lube gun to the top.
The only thing that doesn't leak oil on my '39 p/u is the steering box. It's filled with cornhead grease.
Not quite HAMB, but traditional, joke: Why don't British car manufacturers also build computers? Because they can't figure pout how to get them to leak oil every day.
I rebuilt mine on my 34 , 20 years ago, no leaks yet ! I run gear oil and STP , works great. Good luck.
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