Once your steering box has been serviced, or opened for any other reason, you will need to change the grease.
The grease, which is listed in the "options" tab, is inserted into the steering box through the cover. You will need about 160 grams.
Once the steering box is filled with grease, the cover can be closed with a new gasket and additional grease can be injected through the openings in the cover and air can escape.
Plastic cover plugs should not be reused and should be replaced. Depending on the VW model and year of manufacture, one or two plugs are used, check this before ordering.
Note : The steering box is a closed system, so it does not require any maintenance, the grease is only replaced when it is repaired or overhauled.
Types of steering boxes:
Volkswagen used spindle steering for the Beetle until 1965 and for the Karmann Ghia until 1961. The steering box is equipped with a toothed fork (spindle) that rotates around an axis (worm screw) for rotational movement. In the last years of construction, the roller control was used; similarly, only the tooth spindle was replaced by a roller with bearings (worm wheel).
Since 1974, the Beetle 1303, like the third generation of Buses (T25/T3 Vanagon), has been equipped with a rack-and-pinion steering system. It is a rectangular rod with teeth on one side like a gear. With the pinion, a small pinion that intervenes in the gearing, the rod can be moved lengthwise. Volkswagen did not implement this change for all models simultaneously, so we have listed below for which model which VW system was used.
Roller steering (roller type):
Beetle e xport from 1961 (VIN 3 933 185 ) and after
Beetle cabriolet from 1961 (VIN 3 933 185 ) until July 1974
Beetle 1200-1300-1500 from August 1965 and afters
Beetle 1302 and 1303 until July 1974
Karmann Ghia from 1961 (VIN 3 933 185 ) and after
Type 3 all models and production years
VW Thing all models and production years
Useful information from Paruzzi magazine and from our YouTube channel :
Look for more technical articles on the page Paruzzi Magazine