Steve Straus

My headers are baking the the grease out of the u-joints connecting the column to the rack. One of the joints is particularly close to the header, but there is absolutely nothing I can do about that. I'll post pictures tomorrow.

Has anyone else experienced this?

I'm probably going to order a lifetime supply of u-joints "just in case"

comp

are you using a high-temp grease ?

Steve Straus

The u-joints aren't serviceable, they're too small to have zirk fittings. I'm using whatever grease came in them, I don't know if it's high temp or not.

That does bring up a good point though. I wonder if I can disassemble a u-joint and put high temp synthetic bearing grease in there. Maybe someone from speed direct can chime in.

71coupe

You might be able to fabricate some kind of heat shield to reflect the heat that will clamp on to the headers.

mrvette

71 coupe, that's what I did for my spark plugs on this header set.....should work fine for the steering also....just a metal piece with a tab on it, clamped to the header pipe....with a stainless hose clamp....

GENE

Steve Straus

I don't think I have enough clearance between the joint and the pipefor that. I'll have to figure out something though...

CrossedFlags77

Have you thought about using header wrap?

comp

it may need to be greased with a needle , i know there are greases that
take 500degs. i don't remember the name of the stuff iv'e worked with
that wasn't Valvoline or Moble 1

Twin_Turbo

You might want to ask flaming river, I think the double joint comes from them.

Speed Direct

Steve, the u-joints can be disassembled but it is a pain to do it. It is similar to changing u-joints on a driveline. High temp grease is a good idea. I think a heat shield on the header tube is a really good idea as well. A small piece of aluminum and maybe some header wrap would do a lot for reducing the heat in that area.