steering rack lubrication

Post by **aingleson** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 3:37 pm

Hi, it looks to me like the steering rack lubrication nipple has previously been treated to grease rather than oil. There is the same red gunge around the nipple as round the other nipples on the car. What should I do? Just start lubricating with oil or do I need to clean out the grease somehow?

Post by **bmcecosse** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 7:44 pm

Just bang in some EP90 oil.

Post by **les** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 10:24 pm

Don't use a big hammer though!

Post by **rayofleamington** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 9:53 am

There is the same red gunge around the nipple as round the other nipples on the car.

red gunge?? Do you think thgey had some red grease (I've never seen any), or was it maybe a protective coat to stop the nipples corroding (servicing places tend to use red, blue or grean coatings so you can see that they did 'something')

Post by **Kevin** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 11:54 am

And remember to empty the remaining oil from the grease gun afterwards because it always leaks out otherwise.

Post by **57traveller** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 12:07 pm

Hopefully nobody's used Castrol red rubber grease. At least the bellows should move freely!

Post by **bmcecosse** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 8:28 pm

Don't overfill it - or you will just burst the bellows. It doesn't need much.

Post by **salty_monk** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 12:45 am

10 pumps on the handle only from memory....

Post by **chickenjohn** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 7:27 am

My grease gun didn't get on with having oil in it, and I'm not too keen on the idea, plus the nipple on the rack seemed to be a bit blocked.

So I unbolted the nipple and gave the hole in the rack 10-15 squirts from an oil can filled with EP90, screw the nipple back on and jobs a goodun!

Post by **Alec** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 7:42 am

Hello Ray,

just as an aside, the place I work (a wood particle board manufacturing factory) has both red and blue grease used for special applications, both in high temperature situations.

Alec

Post by **rayofleamington** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 10:34 am

both red and blue grease used for special applications,

sounds like fun stuff

We occasionally see white grease used for assembly of brake fluid seals (where mineral based grease would wreck the whole system).
Most of the specialist stuff isn't available to the general public, which avoids a lot of confusion but is annoying if you need some. I've seen green grease on other applications, but again it was specialist stuff.

Post by **Cam** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 12:01 pm

chickenjohn wrote:I unbolted the nipple and gave the hole in the rack 10-15 squirts from an oil can filled with EP90, screw the nipple back on and jobs a goodun!

That sounds like a REALLY good idea! Much simpler and easier than emptying the grease gun and filling it with EP90 and mucking about.

Thanks for the tip! I think I'll do that next time!

Post by **Kevin** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 1:53 pm

That sounds like a REALLY good idea!

Agree with you Cam, why are the simpler ideas often overlooked.

Post by **Cam** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 2:03 pm

Well, in John's case it was necessity being the mother of invention as the nipple was blocked and the grease gun filled with EP did not really work. But I guess that we just don't consider different ways of looking at problems if the 'normal' solutions work OK.

Post by **les** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 10:06 pm

Well I've found that the nipple isn't 'square' to the access hole, which stops the gun fitting properly so I usually give the floor 10 squirts of ep 90! Removing the nipple sounds good to me.

Post by **Kevin** » Sat Apr 02, 2005 9:00 am

so I usually give the floor 10 squirts of ep 90!

Post by **aingleson** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 10:13 am

Ray, I think its red/pink coliured grease. All the nipples have it around the outside, and when I put grease into the front legs it forces some red stuff out further down.