Stupid pitman arm...

[Bignate603]

I'm currently pulling out the power steering system on my Cherokee, the pump started producing massive amounts of metal shards so I figure that the steering box will soon start to die anyways. Total cost of the repair is going to be close to $300, not bad for replacing every part in the power steering system.

Anyways, the power steering box doesn't come with a pitman arm attached, meaning that I need to swap mine over. I picked up a puller from Autozone, and when I got home I found it had this funny cap on the end so I couldn't slip a socket on to it and crank on it with a breaker bar, you had to use a normal wrench. With all of 10 inches of leverage the thing didn't budge.

I ended up going to the hardware store to get a cheap wrench, which I cut one end off of so I could slip a cheater bar on to it. At first I thought it was going well, I thought it was just about to come off when I heard a load pop. Unfortunately, that pop wasn't the pitman arm coming off, that was the puller bending and flaring out.

I'm starting to get pretty pissed off about this, everything else was going really well on this job. Tomorrow I'm calling around to see if a junkyard's got another pitman arm laying around. If I can get one cheap I'm just going to give the steering box back for my core charge with the pitman arm still attached.

 

[Bartman39]

Know anyone with a good air hammer...? Just remove the box and use an air hammer on it and should come off pretty easy... Those cheap pullers are just that cheap... Also you can use a torch to heat one side of the pitman arm since the box is a core it wont matter about the seal... That Victor wrench works real good...

 

[Bignate603]

Know anyone with a good air hammer...? Just remove the box and use an air hammer on it and should come off pretty easy... Those cheap pullers are just that cheap... Also you can use a torch to heat one side of the pitman arm since the box is a core it wont matter about the seal... That Victor wrench works real good...

I'll ask around, I don't know anybody off the top of my head. I don't have a torch but there is room to get it in there if I need it.

 

[Bartman39]

I meant for you to remove the box first...:thumbsup: Should be able to disconnect the other end on what I remember is the crosslink...? Disconnect the steering linkage and of course then unbolt the box & remove it... Then put the wamy on it...

 

[Bignate603]

I meant for you to remove the box first...:thumbsup: Should be able to disconnect the other end on what I remember is the crosslink...? Disconnect the steering linkage and of course then unbolt the box & remove it... Then put the wamy on it...

I'm considering just getting another pitman arm then returning the box currently in the jeep for the core charge with the arm still attached.

 

[herm0016]

the puller i picked up from checker had a square end on it, i just picked up an 8 point socket for a few bucks to fit it. also, why cut the end of the wrench off? and don't use cheap wrenches for stuff like this, i broke one last week using another wrench as leverage, i have pounded on my craftsman wrenches this way with a hammer and have yet to break one. The pitman arm on my wagoneer came right off with a 1/2 in breaker bar and some penetrating oil, looked like it had been there a long, long time.

a stock arm for my truck is 25.00, yours should be similar.

 

[bruceb]

If a puller won't remove it, take the steering box out of the car (you are replacing it anyway) and put it in hydraulic press. If you don't have one, any place that does brake rotor work will have one. Support the Pitman arm and use the press on the Shaft of the steering gear. It will come right off.

 

[Bignate603]

the puller i picked up from checker had a square end on it, i just picked up an 8 point socket for a few bucks to fit it. also, why cut the end of the wrench off? and don't use cheap wrenches for stuff like this, i broke one last week using another wrench as leverage, i have pounded on my craftsman wrenches this way with a hammer and have yet to break one. The pitman arm on my wagoneer came right off with a 1/2 in breaker bar and some penetrating oil, looked like it had been there a long, long time.

a stock arm for my truck is 25.00, yours should be similar.

I cut the end of the wrench off because then I could get a cheater bar slipped over it. The cheap wrench worked great, it wasn't the wrench that failed. As for getting your pitman arm off the wagoneer, congrats but it sounds like yours wasn't as stuck on as this one. Like I said, it took enough force that the puller broke.

I'm going to ask around at work to see if one of the lab technicians can pop it off with some of the stuff they have there.

 

[Squisher]

It's been a long time since I did one, but the last one I did (70s maybe), had a nut on it that was an interference fit. After it broke free it still required a great deal of effort to come off after the threads were well cleaned and oiled. The arm itself needed heat before the puller would even budge it.

btw-have you ever looked at a rebuild kit for a power steering gearbox? Last one I bought (70s also) was a 7"X9" envelop that cost $10. When I opened it up the instructions, they were 17"X36" of telephone book font, both sides. I went and got a gearbox from a junkyard. :biggrin:

 

[hanoverphist]

I'm starting to get pretty pissed off about this, everything else was going really well on this job. Tomorrow I'm calling around to see if a junkyard's got another pitman arm laying around. If I can get one cheap I'm just going to give the steering box back for my core charge with the pitman arm still attached.

had the same issue with my 01 dodge truck. but it was mostly my fault for letting it get as bad as it was. i returned my gear box core with the pitman arm still fused on, they didnt even question it. new one (not junkyard) was only 80 bucks so it was alright. i also broke 3 pullers from 3 different auto part stores, returned them for my rental fee and didnt tell but one of them that the tool was broke. the one i told assumed it was broke when i picked up the tool, since i was still working on getting it off.

mind you, this wasnt a garage attempt at getting this sucker off, i broke the shop tool at my friends shop (and had to replace it). i was using pretty much all snap-on tools, air impact and all. torched that sucker, smashed it with hammers and tried a 7 foot breaker extension. broke a lot of tools in that change out.

 

[Bignate603]

One of the techs at where I work told me to bring it in, he's going to see if he can get it under a press and press it out.

 

[exdeath]

One of the techs at where I work told me to bring it in, he's going to see if he can get it under a press and press it out.

*Everything* is easy enough that a 5 yr old could do it with the right tools the first time

 

[exdeath]

had the same issue with my 01 dodge truck. but it was mostly my fault for letting it get as bad as it was. i returned my gear box core with the pitman arm still fused on, they didnt even question it. new one (not junkyard) was only 80 bucks so it was alright. i also broke 3 pullers from 3 different auto part stores, returned them for my rental fee and didnt tell but one of them that the tool was broke. the one i told assumed it was broke when i picked up the tool, since i was still working on getting it off.

mind you, this wasnt a garage attempt at getting this sucker off, i broke the shop tool at my friends shop (and had to replace it). i was using pretty much all snap-on tools, air impact and all. torched that sucker, smashed it with hammers and tried a 7 foot breaker extension. broke a lot of tools in that change out.

Arbor plates, bearing puller, and a 20 ton press would have solved that in two seconds.

The magical property about a press is that steel can handle tremendous amount of COMPRESSION force (eg: the bearing puller and arbor plates under the force of the pitman arm until it separates from the shaft) so even under a 20 ton press they aren't going to break like something under a tension force (screwing pulley puller style tool) or twisting and bending (breaker bar, etc).

When I did my 26 spline input shaft, I didn't have a bearing puller, and tried all sorts of ghetto rigged pulley pullers, hammer and spreader chisel, etc.

I gave up in no more than 15 minutes when I realize I was being ghetto and most likely damaging it anyway and just bought a new Timken bearing AND race for $10 bucks and the parts guy had it there in 5 minutes.

When in doubt, replace that mo#%*#($%*#$ fu#$%*(#$*%#$%.

 

[Bignate603]

*Everything* is easy enough that a 5 yr old could do it with the right tools the first time

Ain't that the truth. There's been things I've spent days trying to do but somebody with better tools could do it in a few minutes. When I get a house with a garage I'm going to start outfitting a decent shop. A press, a compressor, and an impact wrench are very high on the list of things I need.

I'm sure the press can get it out, we'll just have to see if we can get it something to support the pitman arm as we press down on the sector shaft. We should have some big hunks of scrap metal around that will do the trick though. This isn't the sort of thing the shop at work normally does but we should be able to scrounge what we need.

 

[bruceb]

One of the techs at where I work told me to bring it in, he's going to see if he can get it under a press and press it out.

Gee, I suggested that back on 08-22-11 at 09:07AM

 

[Bignate603]

Gee, I suggested that back on 08-22-11 at 09:07AM

Yes, and that's why I spoke with that tech about it. I didn't need the car immediately and wasn't going to have time to remove the steering box until tomorrow anyways.

 

[JCH13]

Gee, I suggested that back on 08-22-11 at 09:07AM

Here you go then: