Hi guy's, i have a vega box in my 32 i have a oil drip coming from it. Can anybody give me advice if it is ok to pack box with grease or should i leave it alone. It's been on the car since i have it (5 yrs ). And how do i open it to pack with grease so i don't change any adjustments. Thanks Vic
What kind of box is it, original or repro? I used to sell a box from a major manufacturer that was made in South America and sooner or later they started to leak. I would just have the owners send them back at my expense and they would rebuild them or whatever. Some guys just endured it or they stopped leaking. I now sell only boxes made on the North side of the Rio Grande. I have never taken one apart but am curious to know also what works inside for lube.
Using vega boxes on two of my cars, when I took them apart to check them, both were filled with grease so put grease back in after inspection and called them good. Vergil
Its original. A friend told me to pack it with grease, but i never opened one, don't know which to open.
GM sells a special grease. I don't know what is special about it or what substitutes are better than others. But I know the GM stuff is expensive. I'm running a FR on my 32. And it has a slow grease seep. To check/fill remove the cover with four bolts and the adjusting screw.
General Motors discontinued the recommended lube for Vega boxes years ago. I remember it, though; it came in a toothpaste tube shaped container, and was the consistency of thick gear oil, not grease.
I opened up mine for inspection and packed it with a combination of moly wheel bearing grease, anti-sieze, and STP. Mixed into a consistancy of a light weight grease. That was 10 years ago and it's still without a leak and turns smoothly. Frank
If i take off that cover with the 4 screws and adjusting screw will it change any of the adjustment ????????
One of the cover bolts go right through to the gear oil cavity. I drilled mine through the bolt and in one side on one of the flats to provide pressure relief. These boxes are often installed close to hot headers or manifolds and the pressure relief often prevents leaks. hemiDeuce.
Thanks for the help, but i'm still not sure the cover with the adjusting screw has me worried. I don't want to move any adjustments !!!!!!!!
Go to your local farm tractor dealer or farm supply and get a tube of "picker head grease" . Stuff is a flowable grease and works great in boxes that leak or used grease orignally. You should have some sort of filler hole on the box ,no need to take apart anything. Just load a grease gun with the picker head grease and pump it in.
Vega boxes are easy to adjust. Take out the four bolts and lift the cap off. Try to avoid tearing the thin gasket. There is no lube hole. Fill/pack the lube and replace the cap. If you did not disturb the adjuster in the center the adjustment should be OK. If not, loosen the lock nut, screw the adjuster in or out until all backlash is gone and tighten the lock nut. Screwdriver, box end wrench, and a rag are all the tools you will need.
We used to use wheel bearing grease thinned with 90 wt gear oil in a coffee can to get a thick consistency for manual gear boxes. The guys in our local Chevy parts dept. had no recommendation when I asked.
If your grease is too thick in steering box,it is like having no grease cus it just gets off and dose not run back on grears,that is why they say grear lub
On my Vega box the bolts that held the cover on were drilled all the way through, so I used them as a fill and vent hole to put grease in without messing with any adjustments.
. Sorry, I had to go back and re-read it after spitting Coke all over my screen. My sick brain read "pecker head grease" and I was getting my keys to run to the JD dealer.
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