Spitfire steering rack: Spec lubrication?

Folks,

Does anyone know what the recommended lube is for a Spitfire rack?

What quantity does it take?

TIA

Rog Smith

The manual says 80w90 gear lube and do not overfill. Whatever that means. EDIT: The manual says 'three strokes of the gun, no more' as part of routine maintenance but says ZIP about original fill.

When I got finished with my shortened rack, I lubed the snot out of everything with Maxima waterproof grease (available at motorcycle shops) and have had no problems. I had the inner tie rods disassembled, packe them with the same stuff.

Hess is right on about the "lower trunnions", I've seen a bunch of them ruined with grease.

I know Midgets say use gear lube, but I was thinking Spitfires took grease. At least that's what I put in mine.

Europas use the same parts. Use gear oil, as spec'ed, but about any modern gear oil will be fine. Don't forget to fill the uprights too. Those ain't grease fittings. I used to keep a grease gun filled with gear oil just for it.

Thanks again.

Rog

You can get gear oil in a tube & a grease gun that it screws into from a good marine supply house. On a roundtail Spit there's a bolt that doubles as a ground on top of the rack drivers' side. Remove the bolt, install old style large grease zerk, ejaculate gear oil in there. Remove zerk, reinstall bolt remembering to reinstall grounds. If it was new or I doubted its previous maintenence I'dloosen the boots & pull them away from the rack. Then I'd shoot gear oil & work the rack until I was satisfied that it was lubed. Reinstall boots, put three shots in & reassemble. Wouldn't be a bad idea to have a fresh set of rack boots on hand while you're at it.