>
> I want/need to fill my rack with grease, but I can't find the grease
> fitting. The manual clearly shows me where to find it, but there's no
> fitting there. Is this typical? I guess I have to install a fitting, but I
> wonder where the original one went to, any insight will be helpful.
I more or less went through this about a year ago; i.e., trying to
figure out what, how and how much lubricant to put in the snake's
steering rack. I should mention that Cobras have the same steering
rack as MGBs with some minor internal differences.
Here's what the snake's manual has to say:
140w Hypoid squirted in through a loosened gaiter.
Sparingly grease the pinion(?) bearing at the top of the rack.
Or something close to that. My rack has a grease fitting where the
steering wheel shaft connects to the rack gear box. Since the pages
from the MGB manuals sent to me by fellow list members also show this
fitting my guess is that yours should have one too. Perhaps it was
broken off by a PO? I'll take a look at mine this weekend for a more
precise location.
When I posted questions about this at the time several responders said
they used chassis grease rather than gear oil in their racks. To tell
the truth when I replaced the gaiters I found that my rack was filled
with grease rather than gear oil but I opted to follow the manual.
One responder suggested that the easiest way to fill the rack with oil
was to remove the cover plate and pour the oil in through the resulting
opening. I didn't do that because there is a spring loaded thingie
inside and I didn't want it flying off into some corner of the garage or
have to diddle with it when I put the plate back on. Besides, loosening
a gaiter clamp and squirting in oil wasn't that big a deal. I just
cranked the wheel as far as it would go to compress the gaiter, loosened
the outer (small) clamp, poked the tip of a squirt-type oil can filled
with Redline 140/80(?) Hypoid gear oil into the gear area (there's a
lump under the gaiter you have to get past) and pumped in several
shots. The MGB manual says 1/3 pint but I eyeballed it.
The down side of using gear oil (at least for me) is that it slowly
leaks out. I'm not sure whether this is because I over filled the rack
or because I just can't get the clamps tight enough. Every so often I
put in a couple of squirts just to be safe.
Roland
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