[Roadsters] leaking steering box question

[Stephen Holst]

On My 1968 the steering box had gone dry and resulted in some loose steering
I refilled the box with red line synthetic that leaked slowly.  Every couple
of months I refilled.  Currently the seals seemed to have expanded and there
is only the occasional droplet.  While I am not of the opinion that
mechanical things heal themselves I do believe that seals can be
"re-hydrated".  Worth a try. If you do keep checking the levels if it
maintains --saved a bunch of work.
Steve


On 7/5/13 12:27 AM, "Gary and Cindy Ault" <aultgc at att.net> wrote:

> I assume your car is pre-1969, and therefore has a worm and roller (Type A)
> steering box, although I think a similar repair on a Type B box will be
> pretty much the same.
> 
> There is an oil seal on the bottom of the box where the shaft exists and the
> Pittman arm is attached.  Good chance that is the source of your leak.
> Unfortunately, it is not easy to correct, as you'll need to 1) disconnect
> the cross rod joint and tie rod end from the Pittman arm, and 2) remove the
> Pittman arm from the steering shaft.  Remove the top of the steering box.
> Disconnect the steering U-joint and pull the steering column backward into
> the car about six inches.  Remove the rear (traingular shaped) cover, and
> withdraw the worm gear.  Then you can withdraw the steering shaft from the
> steering box through the top of the box..  Pry out the seal and install a
> new one, then put things back together.  That's what I recall without
> looking at the exploded diagram.  You may be able to do all this with the
> box in the car, but it's easier with the box removed.  That said, removing
> the box with the radiator and all the other stuff up front in place was a
> real bear.
> 
> I once bought a used Type A box on eBay which was said to be tight and have
> no apparent wear in the worm gear.  The seller was correct on those points,
> but the box was not filled with gear oil as Nissan intended, but rather was
> packed with lithium moly grease.  That might have worked OK, but I cleaned
> it out, and, presuming that the grease was put in because the lower seal was
> leaking and the owner didn't want to pull the box apart, I pulled the box
> apart, cleaned out the grease, replaced the lower seal and installed it in
> my '67-1/2 2000.  Works fine.  You could try the grease trick -- I'm just
> one for keeping things the way the factory intended.  As long as you get
> enough grease into the box to assure good pubrication between the worm gear
> and roller, it may work.
> 
> If you want further discussion, contact me off List.
> 
> Gary
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ed and Sandie" <edsandie at telus.net>
> To: <datsun-roadsters at autox.team.net>
> Sent: Thursday, July 04, 2013 4:45 PM
> Subject: [Roadsters] leaking steering box question
> 
> 
>> Hi there, well we finally have our cute little roadster on the road,
>> learning
>> a lot about this little car took it for our first fun drive yesterday so
>> my
>> husband could teach me the shifting etc, what fun!  But today I noticed
>> something leaking under and behind the front drivers side wheel, my
>> husband
>> jacked the car up and it looks as though it is coming from the steering
>> box.
>> Now we did fill this up is it possible we over filled it or is there
>> another
>> problem we are soon to learn about!....
>> 
>> Sandie
>> 
>> [demime 1.01d removed an attachment of type image/png which had a name of
>> wlEmoticon-smile[1].png]
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