Shaft/Pitman

Peter J

Peter J

Well-known member
Here's one. I got my shortned Pitman arm from Mike's and shaft from Mac's. I installed them and the arm doesn't completely tighten down. I'm talking about a very small amount (just visable) but it seems to transelate into about 1/2" in steering wheel play. I don't know if I can get one in there but would a shim work? Both parts were new.
Thanks,
Pete
 
Peter - The bad part about using a shim in this case is there are now four surfaces contacting each other instead of just two. Since this is a torque application instead of shear or linear, the full surface used of the shim is minumal.

Do you still have the shaft that was replaced by the Mac's unit? Put the new pitman arm on it and see if it is tight. Also, do you still have the original pitman arm? You can put it on the Mac's shaft and see if it is tight. By mixing and matching, you should be able to determine which part is out of tolerance.

Or.....you can measure the old parts against the new with a micrometer and vernier caliper and see what difference there is in dimensions. Something is out of tolerance, and when you determine which part; it can be returned or exchanged to the respective vendor.

Good luck in finding which part, and let us know which turned out to be out of tolerance.
 
Thanks Ron. Like I mentioned, it's just a tad off but bothersome. I guess it wouldn't be wise to take a hammer to the Pitman arm and "pre tighten" it a little and reinstall?
Pete
 
Peter;

I had exactly the same problem. I got a short pitman arm (from Snyder's I think), installed it and tightened it down as much as I could with a 1/2" drive ratchet. It looked tight. It wasn't.

I had a shimmy in the front end at about 47 mph and couldn't find the cause. I finally put an inpact gun on the pitman arm nut and tightened it up with that. Shimmy gone. Reduced steering wheel play.

I wouldn't use a shim. There is a fair amount of give in the pitman arm that will allow you to close it around the sector shaft if you give it enough tightening.

Dick
 
Peter - I just thought of some thing else (DUH!). Is the gap that the pitman arm bolt squeezes tight or non-existant? That could be preventing the pitman arm from tightening as it should. If so, try opening the gap with a file or if the file is too thick; maybe a belt sander.
 
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