Q1 Steering Lube

’49 8N front mount. I’ve been reading archives about drilling bolts to add fittings, fill plugs that were placed in inexcusable places and not filling though the steering wheel. To say nothing of the oil vs. grease discussion.

Extraordinarily interesting except when I go stare at my tractor I can’t find any of the things that are being discussed.

The good news is that “Francine” steers just fine but I’d like to keep it that way.

So if the kind folks on this board would give me a place to start I’d sure appreciate it.

The EARLY 8N steering gearbox has a distinct fill'em-up plug on the right side. (1/4" pipe plug) It is also rumored to have a HOLLOW steering wheel shaft that is cross-drilled just above the ball-nut. You haffta remove the steering wheel acorn nut to fill hollow steering tube. Unfortunately, later 8N steering tubes DON'T HAVE that "trick" drain hole.

First versions of the later 8N steering gearbox had a fill'em-up plug hidden behind battery sheetmetal brace on the LEFT side. This was discontinued in mid-1950 altho the "boss" is still there on my 1952 8N. My 8N has the "secret" fill'em-up BOLT-HOLE on the RIGHT side behind the proof-meter cable drive. Check with a wire "J"-hook at bottom of bolthole. In early-1952, (eff: s/n 452963?) Ford added a fill'em-up screw just under the steering wheel facing the dashpanel. It was STILL NOT eazy to fill'em-up.

And don't forget, MANY early 8N steering gearboxes were replace with the "better" later 8N steering gearbox. (isn't retro-fittable great?)

In either steering gearbox, the UPPER BEARING still FAILS because the bearing was ABOVE the steering gearbox OIL-LEVEL. Some have tried filling their steering gearbox with chassis grease to make certain that upper bearing gitts lubed but that gitts squeezed out from between the sector gears. Many are using 2-tubes of sticky John Deere cornhead lube because it doesn't squeeze out and it doesn't LEAK past worn seals like 90wt gear oil does..... ..HTH, Dell