Pittman arm removal

Good morning,

I use the Snap On tool for this. They make 2 sizes. One for the big ones and one for the small ones.

https://shop.snapon.com/product/Pitman-Arm-Pullers/Pitman-Arm-Puller-(Domestic-Cars-Light-Trucks)/CJ119B

I have had this for about 8 years and never had one I could not get off.

Roy

yeah, looked at the same one through Rockauto, but this one has thinner pulling plates than the (L) type on the other puller that snapped right off, warrantied thank god. this one would fit over the 3" wide end that goes to the gear box??

That is correct. There are 2, one for the smaller and one for the larger.

Roy

Thanks a bunch guys, after all that, we've decided it is easier to take the lines off the gearbox, three bolts for that, and the whole steering will fall right out. just ordered all new from Rockauto. we'll keep you updated.

Okay, the one from Snap On is much thicker and can take the stress better than the one from Rockauto.

Roy

we'll be looking into it because we'll be needing one at some point later. i have come to you guys several times in the past, always positive review from us here. Thanks again. until later....

You are welcome.

Always glad to help.

Roy

This video shows the job being done:

https://youtu.be/KKeFqHLuRQ0

Please let us know if you need anything else to get the problem fixed.

We decided to just take the steering gear box and all linkage out together since it was effortless to pop off tie rod ends with pickle fork, all new going in. piece of cake now, lol.

Nice work, we are here to help, please use 2CarPros anytime.

Some of these bolts you can gather have not been touched since 1998. lots of spray, heat, grinder and 3' breaker bar does the job.

Hi guys. A simple solution for stubborn pitman arms that are worn and being replaced is to cut 90 percent of the way through it with a cutoff wheel on an air tool. By the time you get that far, the arm will usually crack and fall off.

When you use the pullers, I've seen people have better luck running them down tight with a regular wrench, then smacking the bolt head with a hammer to shock the arm loose.

Be aware that a lot of steering gear boxes use a bushing now to support the pitman shaft in the gearbox instead of a ball bearing. In the mid to late 1990's, I ran into about a dozen gear boxes where that bushing got hammered out, then the pitman shaft would walk sideways, bottom out, then start to rotate with the steering wheel. At first that led to excessive steering wander, then as it got worse, the shaft would move away from the rubber lip seal and leak power steering fluid. For that reason, I would worry about using an air impact wrench on the pitman arm puller. Chances are that won't cause a problem, but why take the chance.

Yeah, thanks, but as i mentioned earlier, we decided to pull the gear box off with the steering links as a whole, that way all we had to do is remove the clamp on steering wheel shaft. But all your advice has come in handy for future issues. We really appreciate you all being there. will be back i'm sure.

You are welcome.

We are always glad to help.

Roy