Manual Steering Box Oil and Adjustment

[NewToW113]

Hi, I have a lot of slop in my steering, I have confirmed the coupling bushings are fine and my other wear components (tie rod ends, etc) are new, so now I'm focused on the steering box. 

While I find plenty of PS discussions, I have not seen any good posts that outline the correct procedure for filling/ greasing the manual boxes, or adjusting them to remove play.  Any help is always appreciated!

Joe

[spearson65]

I'd also be interested in the type of oil used for the manual steering box as well as locating the fill port.  1968 280 SL.

[ctaylor738]

It's all in the BBB.  The adjustment process requires special tools.  Here is the process for checking the oil level.

Cheers,

CT

[mdsalemi]

Welcome, Joe!

If you are new to the W113 you should consider investing the $30 and become a full member.

I recently replaced the entire steering system (steering gear or box, PS pump, hoses) in my 280SL. The recognized rebuilder of these parts is C&M Hydraulics out of Las Vegas:

https://candmhydraulics.com/

Though they list power steering gears and pumps as their specialty you may consider contacting them to see about any rebuilds they do with the manual gear--or if they have any recommendations. They used to never deal with end users but now they do; however stalwarts such as Pelican Parts and Autohaus AZ both supply their rebuilt units.

On the power steering gear, as similarly pointed out by Chuck Taylor, the instructions for rebuilding is many pages with complex instructions. Though my mechanic offered to do it (and has done it), I thought it best to just give him a fully rebuilt unit. It was more cost effective and a pretty much guaranteed result.