Quick Question on 79308GTB Steering Rack Lubricant

Well, According the O.W.Manual there must be: 0,33-0,37 pints of Agip F1 Rotra MP SAE 85W90 inside the St.box. see page 18 of your manual.Rob

 

Sounds like leaky seals on the rack to me.

 

There should only be grease under the boots. The oil is inside the steering box. Must be a leak somewhere.

Greg

 

Greg is correct in that there is grease under the boots. It is in the ball joints at the inboard ends of the tie rods. This is supposed to be a permanently lubricated ball joint but I put some grease in there anyway. If you move the tie rod to one side it allows room for grease. I just rebuilt my rack and pinion assembly and I found no seals at the ends of the steering tube but there is a seal where the pinion comes out of the body of the tube. This seal to my knowledge is unavailable so be careful with it. I had a new passenger side bushing made (they seem to wear out about 40K). The mechinist used Teflon, but Delring or brass is probably OK. The proper lubricant is 90W or 80W-90 in the amount of .33 pints or 200 cc. The only way to add the fluid I could see was to remove the metal plate (two bolts and watch the spacers) at the top of the assembly as it sets when mounted. You also have to remove a small "piston like" metal thingy which has an O-ring at the top. This gives access to the chamber where the gear oil goes. Anyone please correct me if I'm wrong. I understand that this oil may go past the ends of the tube and into the boots so the boots have to be in good repair. I don't understand why there are no seals but I guess that just the way it is made. I'm sure if the passenger side bushing is shot the oil will get into the boot.

I thought the rebuilds were too pricey...$178 to $475 so I decided to do it myself with some advise from one of this boards members. Wasn't difficult but you would most likely have to have an end bushing made. Not a task for a mechinist. The $178 guy said he used O-rings to replace the bushing, the Pantera guy had the rebuild listed in his ad as $201.50 but when he found out it was for a Ferrari he said that it was a misprint and it really was $301.50 (that smelled suspicious), and the $475 guy said they don't do it but send it out. Anyway I just did it myself...hope it works. Good luck with yours.