[DeTomaso] Steering rack bushing and oil

[Asa Jay Laughton]

According to his article here:
http://www.panteraplace.com/page203.htm
Mike now recommends grease and not oil.  A specific zero weight grease.  
>From his article:

"/Although the Pantera rack was originally filled with 90-weight gear 
oil, TRW (the company that bought out Cam Gears UK, the manufacturer of 
the Pantera rack) now recommends 0-weight grease, instead of oil.  
Although 0-weight grease can be purchased in 10-gallon tubs, only a 
fraction of that is necessary for this job.  The nearest thing you can 
find at the retail level is CRC Engine Assembly Lube, which is 0-1/2 
weight."

/

Asa Jay Laughton, MSgt, USAFR, Retired

& Shelley Marie
Spokane, WA

1973 Pantera L 5533
[ASASCAT]
    
******************************     
http://www.asajay.com
http://www.351c.info
  



cengles at cox.net wrote:
>
> Dear Asa,
>
> I wonder if Mike Drew is recommending using the heavy weight gear oil 
> or switching to the special (?) grease instead. I recollect that Rick 
> Moseley discovered that the steering rack in a Ferrari 308 or 323 was 
> the same as the Pantera and that Ferrari packed their racks in grease 
> rather than oil. I switched mine over to grease about five years ago 
> and I have had no problems and no gear oil leaks from the rack or the 
> boots. (Duh: there is no oil to leak out anymore!!)
>
> Curious, Chuck Engles
>
>
> ---- Asa Jay Laughton <asajay at asajay.com> wrote:
> >Hi gang,
> >
> >There are those of you who may remember I rebuilt the steering rack on
> >my Pantera back in 1999 on my way to the Las Vegas Fun Rally. It got a
> >new brass bushing, thorough cleaning and new oil. Well, today it's in
> >all it's component pieces again. hmmm.
> >
> >Well, as it turns out at some point I still had that weird clunk up
> >front and when leveraged ala checking for the worn nylon bushing, I
> >found slop. Passion of the rebuild what it was, I probably neglected to
> >make sure the bushing was a snug fit in the bore of the rack case.
> >Today, after removing the passenger side boot, I found the bushing
> >almost wiggling around in the bore on it's own.
> >
> >What about that set screw you put in? Good question, it was nice and
> >tight, in fact, after removal, the bushing had a definite mark from the
> >set screw. Well, maybe it wasn't tight enough, or maybe the bushing
> >wore just a little, but the fact was, it was slopping around in the bore.
> >
> >So here I am, measuring the bushing at 1.197" and wondering if that is
> >the best dimension. And then, I head out to The Pantera place and find
> >a really nice article by Mike Drew, the infamous mentor and guide who
> >helped with the first rebuild almost 10 years ago. :)
> >
> >Well, from the article, it looks like these bushings come in two sizes.
> >The article also mentions a "step" in the rack tube that the original
> >bushing rides in. Hmmm, methinks I got a bushing for that step, and not
> >one to augment the original bushing which would take up that slop.
> >
> >Oh, didn't I mention that? Yea, we left the original in place as it
> >didn't appear to be harming anything. Well, 10 years later, I found the
> >gear oil we put in has helped more of the old bushing to break loose and
> >nylon parts were found everywhere. <sigh> gotta love it. And the gear
> >oil didn't seem to get along with one of the two boots we used. I guess
> >that's not too surprising, we didn't have matched boots on it.
> >
> >So anyway, it looks like I need to extract the old bushing and Mike has
> >provided some nice instructions on how one might do that. I'll give
> >that a shot tomorrow. And it looks like we are now -not- recommending
> >gear oil, which I think didn't work quite as nice as we thought anyway.
> >Oh it lubed things nice and slippery, but it just drains away and out
> >the boots. So we'll try the 0-weight grease instead.
> >
> >All this as I prepare to remove the bushings from a-arms. All has been
> >disassembled and is laying on my garage floor. The arms themselves look
> >to be in pretty good shape, the bushing (at least in front) seem good
> >although weather checked and cracked on the outside edges. Having it
> >all out, I'll be replacing them anyway.
> >
> >Turns out both lower ball joints were extremely loose and making
> >definite metal to metal contact. The uppers were in pretty good shape,
> >difficult to move, but smooth. One had a broken boot, the other was
> >fine. Well, I'm in there, and I got the parts from Wilkinson last year,
> >so out they all go and all new stuff goes in. Once this is all done,
> >I'll turn the car around and take apart the rear and see how the
> >uprights, shafts, ball joints and bushings look back there.
> >
> >Asa Jay
> >Pantera Mechanics Northwest.
> >
> >Asa Jay Laughton, MSgt, USAFR, Retired
> >
> >&Shelley Marie
> >Spokane, WA
>
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