Pitman arm

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Tracy S

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I was going to buy a floor-shift steering column and manual steering box off of a guy that was pulling it out of his car. I am swapping from a column-shift with a power steering box. The guy wrote to me and said he rounded the bolt that connects the pitman ram to the center link. He cut the pitman arm. My question is, will the pitman arm off of my power steering box work, or do I need a pitman arm from a manual box? It is becoming too much of a hassle with this guy, and I might just look elsewhere.
 
I Think The P/s Box Has A Smaller Output Shaft .
Any One Else ???????????
 
It depends on year model. Early models used the same pitman arm on both boxes. I can't recall what year they changed.
 
I changed to manual steering on 2 cars that had 73 k-members (so this would apply to at least 73 and up cars) - I had to get new pitman arms specifically for the manual steering.

For the OP, don;t worry about the pitman arm being cut if you're getting a good deal on that column - they're getting harder to find (manual sterring w/ floor shift). I would recommend replacing the pitman arm regardless of whether he included it in the sale or not.
 
Thanks, my car is a '73 Duster, the donor car is a '71 Duster. I've read on other forums that early '71's did not have a key release and later ones did? the guy sent me pics and it does have the key release. It just seemed too easy to get the whole assembly and be able to bolt it right in. The guy wants $250 for the column and steering box. Good deal or not?
 
$250 is a pretty good deal - depending on condition. The box alone is worth around $75, so $175 for a floor shift, manual column is a decent price.
 
You need to find out what year they changed. That steering gear may not work at all without matching draglink, idler arm, etc...
Some load from top down and others from bottom up.
 
RedFish said:
You need to find out what year they changed. That steering gear may not work at all without matching draglink, idler arm, etc...
Some load from top down and others from bottom up.
Click to expand...
Redfish - you may know more than me, so correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought most of the manual steering boxes will interchange from year to year, and body line to body line. I know they did use boxes with a different size sector, but I thought those were in C-bodys or something like that. Unless I'm way off, MOST of the boxes you'll find out there will interchange, but you just need to appropriate pitman arm to connect with the rest of the steering linkage. So I can take a 68 Dart box (where the pitman mounts form under) and install it in a 73 Duster (where pitman mounts from top) and it'll bolt right in with the right pitman arm. I'm pretty sure that regarsless of how the steering linkage is set up - the boxes are the same.

Edit: found some info I read in the past...
http://www.bigblockdart.com/techpages/steeringbox.shtml
 
danmc77 said:
Redfish - you may know more than me, so correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought most of the manual steering boxes will interchange from year to year, and body line to body line. I know they did use boxes with a different size sector, but I thought those were in C-bodys or something like that. Unless I'm way off, MOST of the boxes you'll find out there will interchange, but you just need to appropriate pitman arm to connect with the rest of the steering linkage. So I can take a 68 Dart box (where the pitman mounts form under) and install it in a 73 Duster (where pitman mounts from top) and it'll bolt right in with the right pitman arm. I'm pretty sure that regarsless of how the steering linkage is set up - the boxes are the same.

Edit: found some info I read in the past...
http://www.bigblockdart.com/techpages/steeringbox.shtml
Click to expand...
I know the spined shafts changed at both ends of the gearboxes along with the direction of the ball stud. How many different idler arms are out there i dont know. When I tryed to install 75 power steering gear in a 67 manual steering car I learned there was no such arm available. Good luck
 
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