Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi all, one job i have never done is to lubricate the steering rack on the Minor - I have read a few posts recently on the forum that you should use grease and others recommend diff oil. Please can somebody tell me if grease or diff oil is the best to use as clearly something is better than nothing.
Many thanks in advance.

The factory workshop manual recommends that gear oil should be used during service, so that is what I have always used.
I believe that reconditioned racks are now supplied greased as that is more convenient for them to use while the rack is dismantled - and it won't leak out - but I cannot see how grease added during a service will flow along the rack as well as oil. So oil it is for me anyway

This is a topic that often surfaces.

There are proponents for both oil and grease.

The argument against using oil is that it will run into the rack boots, which some say are not suitable to contain oil, and in any case, when there will not do the lubrication job.

The argument against using grease is that it will not flow to the places it is needed.

This, I believe is a great product for this application and it is made for the purpose:

https://penriteoil.com.au/products/semi ... box-grease

It is made specifically for steering gear and is semi-fluid -- so not as solid as typical grease but not as fluid as oil.

Best of both worlds????

Don

Oh no, not again! The never-ending saga of oil v. grease in the steering rack!
Like 'ManyMinors' I have always used oil, for the same reason he mentions and have never had a problem with the steering rack in 40 years of driving these cars - except once a steering rack rubber boot split due to its age, but that was nothing to do with lubrication. I suspect that old oil in the rack thickens up over time anyway......but like the old 'points v. electronic ignition' debate, each to their own, as there appears to be no widely held definitive answer.

EP90 GL-4

When I first got my Traveller, I put grease in the rack, as some recommend. I found a big improvement in steering after switching to EP90. Lighter, smoother and just generally 'better' feeling.

With regards to how to get it in, if that question comes up, I just remove the grease nipple with a socket and put it in with an oil can, really easy. Just put something under the car to catch the spillage.

The problem with grease is that it does not get to the area of the pinion! With only one oil nipple furthest away from the pinion grease will not migrate across the rack as gear oil would.
You can fit additional nipples to the pinion end of the rack - see below. Both nipples are accessible from the O/S (RHD) or N/S (LHD) wheel arch. Makes life and the steering so much easier.

Many thanks to you all for your time in putting your thoughts forward, much appreciated. So it looks like gear/diff oil on the whole is the best way forward.
Thanks again!