steering box woes

-

sport74

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2014
Messages
439
Reaction score
102
Location
Anderson sc
I've got a 74 dart sport, and I'm attempting to swap from power to manual steering. My problem is I can't get the pitman arm loose to swap units. It won't budge from the drag link or the sector shaft. I ruined a pitman arm puller Trying to remove it. I'm not really going to have the room for the power unit with headers and a hemidenny unit is nnowhere near the budget..... (which I'm way over right now!) thanks for the help
 
Photo? and brand name? of the puller? You need a good one. I'd get / buy / borrow a good beefy one, get a LOT of tension on the puller bolt and then smack it with a BIG hammer. If you can lift the hammer in your "bad" hand it's not big enough, LOL

If that doesn't work, evaluate "juz how good" the pitman arm really is, and consider just replacing it. They are, after all, a "wear" item
 
I planned on replacing it...... I tried to get it loose first. No such luck with that...... It's stuck in both ends! Not sure of the brand but it's pretty beefy. The screw head deformed, and the ears bent on the body of the puller..... I hit it hard with my biggest hammer and nothing. it's like its all one piece of steel...... The pitman arm on the manual box popped right off so I'm not sure what options are left
 
Get a quality tire rod end fork.
I have had a K-D I bought from NAPA 30 years ago, I have hit the sob with a sledge hammer and it will not break.
You could heat the drag link (not recommended) and it would probably fall right off without using a fork with a couple of taps with a hammer.
 
I've got a good tie rod fork and have beat on it until I'm exhausted. No luck. Got a different pitman puller, out tension on and beat and beat and beat some more... Still no luck. I don't have a blue tip wrench so unless I can borrow my friends, I don't know what to do. I know I can't give up because I need the clearance for the headers but I also have to have drag link loose for the header installation
 
You have a torch? heat. how big is the hammer. I cannot "swing" anymore as my osteo problems have truly dimished "my manhood" but even with a BIG dead blow or small sledge, I can still hit with careful uh........................thinking.
 
My friend came through with the blue tip wrench (torch) and I put just a little heat on the drag link and was giving the tie rod girl a few light taps to seat it, and it fell apart! No real muscle involved. And to think I beat on that thing till I was blue in the face and had no results hahaha
 
-
Back
Top