"Grease packing" steering box.

[SanRafaelFaz]

The steering box on my '78 Spider won't hold its oil, apparently the seal is bad (33 years old with no maintenance). It was suggested that I pack it with heavy gear grease to get me by until I can budget in a new one. Anyone have info on how I do this? Is there a zirk fitting on the box somewhere? If so, is it accessible without too much wrenching?
TIA

[azruss]

there is no zirk fitting on the steering box. (not intended for grease). there is a 1/4" square pipe plug on the top and grease could be applied thru there. my thought would be to use a lighter grease than wheel bearing grease. maybe lithium.

[SanRafaelFaz]

there is no zirk fitting on the steering box. (not intended for grease). there is a 1/4" square pipe plug on the top and grease could be applied thru there. my thought would be to use a lighter grease than wheel bearing grease. maybe lithium.

Thanks! I'll check out the lithium idea. That will probably be easier for me to access, as well.

[manoa matt]

The mod is detailed here: http://mirafiori.com/faq/content/steridler.html

[SanRafaelFaz]

The mod is detailed here: http://mirafiori.com/faq/content/steridler.html

This seems to be more for the damper (idler) mounted under the hood over on the passenger side than the box itself, maybe?

[manoa matt]

Several of the vendors carry the input and output shaft seals. Only a couple bucks each, of course you need to remove the box to install them.

[SanRafaelFaz]

Several of the vendors carry the input and output shaft seals. Only a couple bucks each, of course you need to remove the box to install them.

Thanks, Matt. I'll probably wait until I can afford to put in a new one if I'm going to remove it anyway.

[manoa matt]

It is possible to remove and install a new lower seal with the box in the car. The main issue is removing the pitman arm from the output shaft. I recently tried to do this on 2 separate steering boxes and could not remove the pitman arm despite having soaked the interface of the shaft and arm with PB blaster for 3 days and having the correct pitman arm puller. The cast iron pitman arm puller started to bend and I gave up trying to remove the arm before I broke the tool. The seals were not leaking, I just needed to remove the arm so it would fit in a smaller box to save the buyer some shipping costs.