Howdy, Well its gotten cold here and its time to put the Riviera effectively away for the winter and taking advantage of a gap in racing activity I'm going to have Lee Powersteering in California rebuild and upgrade my baddly worn, super slow, and very numb steering box.... if I can get it out of the car!!!! I followed the service manual till I couldn't get a line wrench on the hose ends so I intended to drop the box on a jack till I could then pull them off. Well the bolts holding it to the frame came off easily so did the rag joint/coupler once I figured out it was a 12pt bolt. The fun began when I realized I didn't have a pitman arm puller so I decided to pull the other end of the arm off the center link. Starting with a pickle fork I hammered at it for a good while and suceeded in ripping the rubber bushing and I think I was starting to pull the whole joint out of the centerlink. At this point I tried a 3 jaw puller but I didn't get any grip and it jumped off. I then went out and bought the 1-5/16" 3/4 drive socket with adapter and a small pitman arm puller which I used with a 4ft cheater bar to crack the pitman arm nut loose and get that off. Well the puller is too small, I should have realized I needed the big one with the side of the nut on the box, so I switched to using it on the other end of the arm. Well that didn't work and I broke the ear off of the puller!! Right now I have a steering box thats barely in the car and right now the only way I'm seeing to get the whole mess loose is to pop the tierod ends, pull the idler arm and pull the centerlink out with the box and try to get the whole thing loose that way! This shouldn't be this hard should it? Please tell me what I'm doing wrong if I am. Thanks,
I don't understand what you mean. uzzled: I've removed a lot of pitman arms in my past, and some can really be bad. But I have never broken my puller, although it is a snap-on. I have never had one that could not come apart. Since you are replacing the box anyway, you could try heating the edge of the pitman arm in a spot to expand it and free it up. Just be careful not to let it get too hot. Taking out the whole lkinkage may not be easier since you have already unbolted the box from the frame. I think that may be the reason you are having so much trouble, it's way easier when the box is firmly in place when you torque on the puller. You might try bolting it back in first before trying again with another puller. :idea2:
The box is still bolted to the frame, I put it back when I couldn't get the pickle fork to work. I don't want to have to replace the pitman arm or the centerlink but its looking like I might have damaged the bearing between the pitman arm and the centerlink. Oh and they make 2 different size jaw width pullers, I got the narrower jaw width puller and broke an ear off of it.
it is amazing how a five minute job can turn into a knuckle busting, swearing, tool throwing mess when you don't have the right tools. I believe the proper quality pitman arm puller will make your life a lot easier right now. Those things can be a bear and the jaw puller nor the fork will not do the job. Yes I did find this out the hard way.
Perhaps you could rent a good one from a tool rental place. It's amazing how much tension a good puller will withstand without breaking. Just be careful if you need to use a granny bar on the bolt in the puller........when they finally break loose you can get hurt if you aren't careful! ou:
The cheater bar was for the pitman arm nut. I'm going to stop by sears tomorrow and see if they have a good puller, better than the Autozone junk I got this time which I will take back and see if I can get another small one because I'd like to use it on the tierod ends if it comes to that. Finally, I need a new rubber or whatever it was washer that goes between the pitman arm and the centerlink, where would I find one and please don't tell me I now need a new center link because of that. Thanks,
I hate to be the bearer of the bad news, but yes, you'd be best off replacing that center link. The joint on the pitman arm end usually wears out first, and when they start pushing out when you add grease (or otherwise) it's time for a new one. They should not come apart under the force of a pickle fork, although it's easy to damage the seals. If you had loose steering, that joint was probably a big part of the problem. Any joint that you can rotate with your bare fingers or is visibly loose or distorted should be replaced. :Smarty:
Any suggestions on where to get the new centerlink from? So far only Kanter, CARS, and Napa I have found list them. Anywhere from $250-350.
I have to replace atleast this much. I'd rather no have to spend the $300+ on the Rare Parts one but if its the best one out there and worth the money, I'll spend it. Centerlink: $317.80 ($175 Core) from Rare Parts which has the best reputation I can find, CARS has a rebuilt for $250 (by exchange), Napa has one for $364 from Rare Parts with the same core, and Kanter has one for $270 (by exchange) Now this stuff I don't have to replace, for the money I'm thinking its not worth it since it all seams in good shape. If anything I might need new tierod ends if I screwed them up pulling the whole mess out. Inner Tie Rod Ends: $102.85 a piece from Rare Parts, CARS has them for $98.99, NAPA has them for $119.00, and Kanter has them for $84.00 Idler Arm: $160.02 from Rare parts, CARS $89.99, NAPA $184.00 from Rare parts, and Kanter $73.00 comments and opinions on who's rebuild is going to be the best for the money?
Well I still can't get the pitman arm off the centerlink though I have been able to get the box out of the car now though it made a bit of a mess since the fluid dripped everywhere while I was trying to get a line wrench on the lines to the box. I've tried heating the pitman arm with a butane torch but it didn't want to budge. I've also tried the CRC Freeze off which is darn near worthless best I can tell. I'm trying not to rip the joint out of the centerlink as everyone rebuilds them and they require a rebuildable core. About the only trick I can think of left is to get a different style pitman arm puller that is more of a C at the base instead of the U type I have now. I think I'm going to go with the Kanter one since its middle of the price pack and I'm happy with thier upper ball joints.
I think if you get that sucker hot enough it'll pop right out. Heat on the very end of the pitman arm until it just starts to get red. Then with the arm in a vise, smack it with a BFH. I wouldn't worry about sending them a core that is broken, I'm not sure on this one but *I think* as long as the link itself is not bent or otherwise destroyed, if the tapered studs are missing, smushed or broken it won't matter as they are replaced anyway with new ones when they get rebuilt. You may want to call them and explain your dilemma, and ask them first. If it doesn't matter, just heat the snot out of it until the guts melt and the stud comes out of the link itself. You could then press the stud out of the pitman arm on a hydraulic press or in a vise. Or just take it to a muffler shop and have them burn it out with a cutting torch, just tell them only cut the stud, and not to damage the link itself. :idea2:
Well... I can't get it loose, it won't come out of the pitman arm. I think I'm going to just pull it out of the centerlink and then send that in to Kanter and see what they say. If they don't like it, I'll get one from Wheatbelt.
FINALLY!!!! I got it to break free. I ended up beating it with a pickle fork till I couldn't get it to get any farther out then I took my butane torch to it for like 5min and warmed it up real good with PB Blaster on it which started to sizzle and smoke so I grabed the can of compressed air (the keyboard duster kind) and flipped it upside down and spray the bolt till it got frost on it! I then took the pickle fork back to it with the tines proped between the jaws of the vice so that it holding the pitman arm up and beat the everliving snot out of the stud till it popped free. Going to box it up and mail it in to Kanter tomorrow. Boy am I annoyed at all of this!
