Pitman Arm Compatibility

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banditluda

banditluda

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Regina, SK
Ok, so I've got a bit of a Frankenstein Duster. Brief History - Originally had a 74 slant 6 car. It was too rusty and eventually had to pull it off the road for safety reasons. Found a 73 shell in great shape but had been turned into a drag car, and eventually gutted. When I bought the shell it was really just that, a shell. From what I can tell, the car was originally a 318, they had put a 440 in it during the race era and pulled it. For cost reasons, I took everything from original 6 cyl. car and put it into this car (including k frame). That was several years ago.

Now, I am in the midst of replacing my steering/suspension system. I need to replace my pitman arm, but the part that is currently in the car is not the same part that I'm being prompted to. Ex.when looking for which one is the right part, you are asked what engine you have and whether you have manual or power steering. Since I currently have a 225 and manual steering, but originally had 318 with steering type unknown, also throw in the 440 factor and what they might have put in at that point, I'm not sure which part I should get to make it work properly. I have a V8 k frame and hope to in the near future put a V8 in, but don't want to make assumptions at this point. I need the car to ride and drive well with what I have for now. So if anyone has any input to help me with this, that would be much appreciated.
 
Since your K frame came out of a '74 slant 6 with manual steering and you kept the steering box, you would need a Moog K7075 Pitman arm for manual steering. Don't pay attention to the pictures of parts you see online. They are pictures of "representative parts and the actual part may differ"...

Almost forgot the important part. Welcome to the site and don't hesitate to ask questions. You may even get an answer if the right people see your post. Sure wish memike was here for the howdy stuff...
 
grumpuscreature said:
Since your K frame came out of a '74 slant 6 with manual steering and you kept the steering box, you would need a Moog K7075 Pitman arm for manual steering. Don't pay attention to the pictures of parts you see online. They are pictures of "representative parts and the actual part may differ"...

Almost forgot the important part. Welcome to the site and don't hesitate to ask questions. You may even get an answer if the right people see your post. Sure wish memike was here for the howdy stuff...
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I am not one for giving what may not be correct information until I ask the correct questions.

Since he has already stated that the part they are sending him to isn't correct, I wouldn't go out on a limb and say that he definitely needs a Moog K7075. Identification is key. I know you love giving information such as using brake drums that don't fit the registers and are too wide but personally I deal in accurate information so people don't have other issues to deal with.

While K7075 shows to be correct by the application, it is possible that the car has the earlier 72 back steering linkages which will fit the later K frame he has.
 
Here's what this all boils down to. From 67 and later, the 67 unmodified K frame is unique and takes a "one year" IDLER arm. This means if you do not modify the 67 K to take a later idler arm, you must use the 67--72 steering linkage

If you have ANY K member from 68 later, OR have modded your 67 K to take the later idler, NOW you have the following situation

The PITMAN arm, the IDLER arm and the CENTER LINK are going to depend on whether you have / can get an early or late that is small or large spline steering box.

In other words THOSE FOUR PARTS must all go together. They are split between 72 and earlier and 73 and later

Here's some info:

http://www.bigblockdart.com/techpages/techindex.shtml

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=236925

In other words whatever steering box you use you MUST have a pitman to fit, and that is determined by the spline size. The other two pieces, the idler and center link MUST then match the early or late pitman, whatever you end up with. Other than 67, the year of the K member DOES NOT MATTER.
 
Oklacarcollecto said:
I am not one for giving what may not be correct information until I ask the correct questions.

Since he has already stated that the part they are sending him to isn't correct, I wouldn't go out on a limb and say that he definitely needs a Moog K7075. Identification is key. I know you love giving information such as using brake drums that don't fit the registers and are too wide but personally I deal in accurate information so people don't have other issues to deal with.

While K7075 shows to be correct by the application, it is possible that the car has the earlier 72 back steering linkages which will fit the later K frame he has.
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If he had the older linkage power/manual steering wouldn't be an issue since they both used the same Pitman arm. If you would read and understand the posts you would know that the original poster was referencing '74 manual steering as was I. Sorry to offend your carefully crafted world view, but '74 manual steering Pitman arms are a Moog K7075 or equivalent, period...
 
grumpuscreature said:
If he had the older linkage power/manual steering wouldn't be an issue since they both used the same Pitman arm. If you would read and understand the posts you would know that the original poster was referencing '74 manual steering as was I. Sorry to offend your carefully crafted world view, but '74 manual steering Pitman arms are a Moog K7075 or equivalent, period...
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Please take time to read the information 67Dart273 posted above. Parts on these cars have been swapped over the years so there are many times a picture will answer a question immediately. You are ASSUMING that the car still has the factory parts but he said that what they are showing him isn't correct. "I need to replace my pitman arm, but the part that is currently in the car is not the same part that I'm being prompted to".

Moog K7075 is used on the 1973 up cars not 1972 back.
 
73moparman said:
Yes it was. I got three different pitman arms from moog..same part number and everything and they were all the different in some way!
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This poor guy went through a lot of crap on his Moog pitman arms. Since Moog has gone overseas the quality has gone to hell.

He ended up with a lot of other problems that the members helped work through during this 15 page thread.

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=160746
 
My own car is a great example. I went from an early small spline power to small spline manual box. I went from a 67 K to a 73 K. so for awhile, I had the early small manual box in the 73 K with the early linkage and 68-72 style idler.

Then I scored a later steering box, this is just how things worked out. so now it will have a late, big spline power box, with late steering link and idler, and 73 / 74 K member is still in the car.

When you get into

box spline size

The year of the K affects front anti-sway bar type

and the type of the anti-sway bar determines what factory lower control arms to use

then you toss in drum or late disk brakes, so now you've added THAT hardware mix.

"for awhile" because of my situation, I had the original 67 drum brakes and 67-72 steering link mated to the 73 K member. In other works the only thing I change temporarily for several months was the K and the idler arm (unique 67 idler)
 
It is NOT "what year" the car is. It's the combination of parts, and what parts turns out to be the "Chinese key" to the puzzle. this is for the most part whether you have a large or small spline box.
 
Hey Guys, thanks for the input. I can clear up a little of that argument going on up there. First of all, the 6 cyl. K frame I ended up using wasn't actually the 74 from my original car cause my buddies decided to take it joy riding one day and curb jumped it and dented that K. I located another 6 k from somewhere and I truthfully don't remember what year or what it was from. I did however use the original steering box from my 74.

So if i understand what I'm reading, a lot of my steering issues may have been caused by incompatible steering box and pittman arm? The Steering box is manual, but the arm resembles that of one from a power steering system.

So if I match the arm I require with the steering box, the rest shouldn't matter?
 
20141004_222704.jpg
 
Does the tapered end of your pitman that goes into the centerlink point up or down?
 
banditluda said:
So if I match the arm I require with the steering box, the rest shouldn't matter?
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No. The pitman must of course match the box because of the spline size.

But the FOUR PARTS all must match

That is the early / late linkage

so box must fit the pitman

Whichever way the stud points "up or down" on the pitman determines the center link and pitman

Look at the thread I posted. there are shots there right out of the shop manual
 
this is the late 73 / later setup, again note the studs point opposite the early setup. You cannot mix and match those parts but they are determined by the box spline NOT THE YEAR of the car or the K member, but by the box
attachment.php
 
banditluda said:
Hey Guys, thanks for the input. I can clear up a little of that argument going on up there. First of all, the 6 cyl. K frame I ended up using wasn't actually the 74 from my original car cause my buddies decided to take it joy riding one day and curb jumped it and dented that K. I located another 6 k from somewhere and I truthfully don't remember what year or what it was from. I did however use the original steering box from my 74. So if i understand what I'm reading, a lot of my steering issues may have been caused by incompatible steering box and pittman arm? The Steering box is manual, but the arm resembles that of one from a power steering system. So if I match the arm I require with the steering box, the rest shouldn't matter?
Click to expand...

The unknowns is why I personally ask questions before giving numbers. The member that had three of the same part number of Moog pitman arms that didn't match also had a miss-matched bunch of suspension parts that was causing problems and found a cracked K frame before it was also sorted out.
 
67Dart273 said:
this is the late 73 / later setup, again note the studs point opposite the early setup. You cannot mix and match those parts but they are determined by the box spline NOT THE YEAR of the car or the K member, but by the box
attachment.php
Click to expand...

So it turns out one of my issues with my steering in the first place was that these were not the right parts in the first place. I had opposing bolt/taper directions on the pittman and idler and it seems the centerlink bar was modified to make the idler work. So I need to find myself a new centerlink, as shown in the diagram, with both bolts pointing down into it. I have not been able to find an aftermarket solution. Is there one? or do I actually need to track the correct factory part down somehow?
 
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