Just a heads up for anyone considering getting one of these.. When i got my bus back in 2014 it had the original steering box, well worn and no more adjustment available, lots of play.. knackered in other words. As part of my suspension and steering refresh soon after i got the bus i got one of these TRW boxes as i didn't know any better at the time. I thought for 250 quid problem solved? er nope. 500 miles in and it had developed a lot of slop, so adjusted as per the manual and it seemed fine initially. More miles though and it got slacker again.. i think i've probably adjusted it 5 or 6 times in about 10k miles. End of last year it finally hit the "stop" on the adjuster so no more tweaking. Gradually since then it's also got stiffer which made driving pretty hard work. So, junk after 10k miles - value for money? Dont' think so personally. I'd sourced a good used original VW (ZF) box and fitted that last week and it's night-and-day different, way lighter, much nicer to drive now. Interestingly i was chatting to graham (midland ear1y bay) who fitted a trw box about the same time as me - he's also had similar experience and junked his. OEM VW (ZF) steering box vs. TRW by Rob E, on Flickr
oh, and if anyone wants the old junk trw box as an "exchange" you're welcome to it, just don't ask me to post it.
I did. Lots of greasy oily metal bits and pieces. I got thoroughly filthy then decided to put it back together and go and do something more interesting instead
It should be oily and not greasy, if it's got grease in it any fine metallic fragments that wear away in use get suspended in the grease and act like a grinding paste. If it's full of oil the metal sinks to the bottom out of the way.
The box on my bug had about t spoon of grease in it when I took the top off. Some steering box oils are a NLGI OO grade semi fluid grease. It's like a really really thick gearbox oil. Pours like golder syrup.
^ yep, that sort of stuff i think. not solid like grease, more gloopy and flowed. fitted by graham at midland earlybay so i'm sure it was legit just thick stuff. i put oil in the new one (from Keith H).
