Lubricant for Ross Steering Gears was discussed here a couple days ago. At the time, I thought the lady out west known as 9GWoman was still marketing her secret potion replacement for Kendall 400 or Kendall C-999 Steering Gear Lubricant. That is the semi-fluid grease for Ross boxes that has not been available commercially for decades. [V]At our Indy Chapter SDC Meeting this afternoon, I spoke with Ed Reynolds [:0] of Studebaker International about this. I had a hunch 9GWoman was no longer in business and Ed might be marketing her product through Studebaker International.
Indeed he is: Studebaker International Product #801651 is, in fact, 9GWoman's formula for Ross Semi-Fluid Steering Box lubricant. She is no longer marketing it herself: It is mixed on location at Studebaker International. It is not an off-the-shelf product you can buy under a different name anywhere else.
Ed reports no complaints about this product. I suggested we could take some of the mixture to a lab and have it compared with some extant Kendall C-999 I have in a couple 40-year-old tubes. Ed was all for that, so the next time I'm out at SI, Ed said he'd give me a sample and we could take it to a lab. Maybe the lab could report some tweakings to the mixture, or maybe it is dead-on; I don't know.
For the time being, the SI product is the only currently-available lubricant that should be used in Ross Steering Gear boxes on 'most all Studebakers through 1960, and Hawks until the end.
To determine if you have a Ross Box, see what size wrench is needed to remove the square pipe plug at the check/fill hole on top of the box. If the pipe plug requires a 3/8" or 7/16" wrench, it is a Ross box. If the plug is near the very top of the box and requires a 1/2" or 9/16" wrench, it is a Saginaw unit (
thank goodness!) and does not require the special semi-fluid grease. When the chemical analysis has been done, we'll report the results in The Co-Operator in Turning Wheels. [8D] BP
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