Technical 1950 Pontiac manual steering box

I have a 1950 4 door Pontiac with a straight eight and automatic.... with manual steering.... id just like some info on the steering box, is it easy to get rebuild parts for? Is it a strong box to begin with? If I were to look for up upgrade or just a replacement what other boxes will fit if any without to much modification?

Thank you guys in advance

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From the manual online available at Old Online Pontiac Manuals (oldcarmanualproject.com). They seem pretty easy. But finding parts seems impossible. They are available it you have a core from Summit Racing for $383. Core charge is $500!!!

 

Maybe try https://www.larescorp.com/

 

Thank you

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might check with @PhilA he has been thru his Poncho from end to end

 

I heard my name!

Yes, it's a good steering steering box, well made from good materials and worth keeping (so long as you have the arm strength for the steering at low speed!).

Upper bearings take very little load and have plenty of adjustment in.
Lower bearings take massive force and wear out and are non-adjustable.
California Pontiac Restoration have various core parts as a kit, they don't sell just the individual bushings any more but you can get them on a core return basis.

The service manual suggests a slurry of chassis grease and engine oil (mostly because that's what was readily available when they were new), however I took the advice of people who know these cars and cleaned mine out and used John Deere "Corn Head" grease, which is designed for worm/wheel gearboxes in farming machinery. It's thixotropic, has much better non-drying characteristics, good "flop" and is much less prone to leaking through old seals and is designed with the extreme pressures you get on the point load surfaces of the worm gear in mind.

The oil/grease mix dries out, leaks badly and all pushes to the far extent of the worm gear and stays there, never to lubricate again. The Deere stuff becomes solid when it's worked but as soon as the pressure is released goes all goopy and "flops" back down over where it was pushed away from. (Same effect you get when you mix cornflour and water).

$0.02

Phil

 

Thixotropic! have to add that to my vocabulary especially when talking to the ladies. Bet they will be impressed.....

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There's no way I can add comment to that without being banned from this forum...

 

Thanks Phil, thats about what I was hoping to hear...
Can I PM you for another question?

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Absolutely!