ok people i need to put oil in my chevy vega steering box,how much oil?how do i tell it has enough ?and where do i put the oil? pictures would help please but if not just explain as i have never dealt with a vega steering box before........Marq
Loosen the adjuster locknut. (Take note of where the adjuster screw slot is oriented and how far it sticks out if you want to return to the original setting. Probably better to re-adjust it when you put it back together.) Then remove the three bolts holding the top on. Next, use a screwdriver to back the adjuster screw off far enough to remove the top. (You'll be screwing the adjuster screw in which will lift the top up along the screw.) This is a good time to clean the top and make a new gasket for it. (Buff the top if you wish - it's aluminum and cleans up pretty good.) Use thin Vellumoid gasket paper - skip on the gasket paper from Kragens and the like - and glue it to the top with Copper Coat. (Vellumoid is quality stuff and the off-shore gasket paper is dried out*****. You'd be better off using a pizza box for a gasket than the blister pack store stuff.) Clean the box with clean solvent and let it dry. GM puts a steering grease into these boxes, but the two Chevy places I tried to get it at, the parts dept didn't have it. Sta-Lube's Extreme Pressure Grease (black in color)with Molybdenum Disulfide is an excellent substitute. Get an iced tea spoon and spoon the box full of grease. Reassemble and re-adjust if necessary. If you want to make it easy on yourself next time around, drill and tap the box top for a Zerk fitting and a small vent plug. In lieu of a plug, simply remove one of the three hold-down bolts for a vent. If you have access to a lathe the really hot setup is to center drill one of the mounting bolts and tap it for a zerk. No matter how you do it, be sure to vent the box when you're pumping grease in under pressure or you'll blow the seals. Seals are no longer obtainable at GM and Mullins won't sell them. You can get replacement seals at most any bearing house. Take the empty and clean box so the folks at the bearing house can measure it and take an old seal along as well. When you put the box back together run a good fine-toothed file over the seal surfaces lightly, just enough to remove any burrs that could damage the new seal.
Not trying to hijack the thread , but I have a question about Vega stg. boxes and C9 seems to know a lot about them.How do you "center" a Vega box so that the input shaft is correctly oriented . I have a Vega box going on my 26T Lakes Mod that was rebuilt and I want to make sure it's properly set up. Seems that I read that halfway from lock-to lock is not correct. C9 or anybody know the correct procedure?
Are you talking about the orientation of the 'teeth'? The pitman shaft sector has five teeth and the ball nut (squary block) has four. Center to center is what you want.. If you're talking about the 'high spot' that's present when the wheels are straight ahead, that's the point where - with draglink disconnected - you can feel a little extra resistance to turning the worm shaft (or input shaft). Said resistance easily felt if the steering shaft is disconnected. You can feel it through the wheel if you're careful, but doing the adjusting with the box completely disconnected is the easy way to do it. In fact, before I'd remove the steering shaft, column et al I'd pull the box. No big deal there and setting it up on the bench is an easy way to go. If you dis-assemble the box do yourself a favor and leave the ball guide attached to the ball nut. It can be a pain getting all the balls back in, but if you're careful it's a do-able deal. Even so, it can be adequately cleaned up with the ball guide still attached. The steeering box is adjusted at the tightest point of the 'high spot'. Refer to a Motors Manual for the detailed instructions. The basics are to get all the play out of the pitman arm sector shaft by turning the big threaded nut and the end and locking it with the stamped sheet metal nut. Then adjust the tightness between worm shaft teeth and pitman teeth until play is at a minimum. You're supposed to use a scale and check the pre-load at the steering wheel, but if you don't go overboard you can do it at the box proper while turning the worm shaft by hand. Make sure as well to NOT use the steering boxes internal stops for steering stops when driving the car. Damage to the ball nut****embly may occur. I see this done a lot on hot rods and it amazes me. Mainly because steering stop nuts on a solid axle setup are readily available. The steering stop nuts are used on the kingpin locking pin. Sometimes these stop nuts are overly long. You can cut them down - not over .125 each time - and give them a try until the car is turning as sharply as it can and the steering stop nuts are keeping the steering box from hitting the internal stops. It can be a juggling act to get it all set up right, but steering is no place to do it wrong. Fwiw - a Chevy mag lug-nut with it's 7/16-NF threads makes a very nice steering stop. Get a stainless one if you can and machine a flat on one end, use an AN or similar washer. Any cutting down required is done on the axle end of the stop nut. The commercially available stainless stop nuts come in the right length nowadays. An especially nice one is the Deuce Factory stainless stop nut that comes in the same length as the cut-down older ones in my 32. They worked fine in the 31 and did not require alterations.
As a side bar, my box is a lot of turns lock to lock and I'd like it to be quicker. Are there any solutions? I don't know if a longer pitman arm is kosher or maybe there are different ratios available? Thanks.
[ QUOTE ] my box is a lot of turns lock to lock and I'd like it to be quicker. Are there any solutions? I don't know if a longer pitman arm is kosher or maybe there are different ratios available? [/ QUOTE ] I understand there are different ratio's out there. Perhaps in the Vega power steering box - which was an option although I've never seen one. There's another box, looks like a Vega and is slightly larger than a Vega, but not by much. (525 sound right?) ID'd by it's slightly longer worm (or input) shaft. I believe it bolts to the Vega mount as well. Some of these style boxes were power steering and you may be able to do a gear swap from one box to the other. This larger box is the one used by Harwood when they made frames and bodies for 32's. I believe you find them in the next GM body size up from the Vega. Monza etc. A smaller diameter steering wheel can help as well. The ratio obviously remains the same, but you don't have to turn as far - linearly anyway, although the amount of circular input remains the same. If you can find a longer pitman that fits - and it's a good possibility cuz the factories only cut one or two different pitman spline diameter/patterns on the passenger cars. Keep in mind that if you're running the 6" Vega pitman and stumbled onto an 8" pitman you may have a conflict with the tie rod. I find in everday use the standard Vega ratio is ok. In fact, my piman is shorter than standard due to being bent for vertical clearance and the steering is even slower than a stock Vega. If you're thinking about race-cars, a faster steering may be good. Then again, remember what Don Garlits discovered as far as what made the rear engine fuelers work. (He did build a rear-engine car several years prior, but gave it up due to bad handling.) The discovery was simple, slower steering made the rear engine/long wheelbase cars work.
Thanks for the info C9. I have all Superbell front axle,spindles,stg.arms,tierod ,and the steering stops on the kingpin lockbolt.I'll use your hint on adjusting the stops. I'm really not going to disassemble the box ,as I bought it already rebuilt. I'll just trace down a Motors Manual for the correct procedure to get the "center" of input shaft rotation.
Thank you C9, Garlits had a speed shop not far from home and we would ride our bicycles by there as kids to check out his projects.
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