Do you pull off the pitman arm with the unit bolted up to the truck, or do you remove the drag link and pull the box and pitman together?

It looks like I need to pull the draglink off and then remove the pitman arm. I thought I would just need drag link style puller, but it looks like the pitarm may need a different type of puller?

Any links to what kind it is?

Any tips on this repair?

 

Soak the shaft with pennitrating() oil and pull the pitman arm off with a pry bar and hammer. That's the way I did mine.

 

What I did was remove the steering box from the frame rail and the steering coupler and hoses and then the entire box rotates on the joint, you can then get a pitman arm puller on it...Mark

 

So, I'm stuck on the forward most bolt that bolts the mounting plate to the frame. I can seem to get a hold of it to remove it.

Any ideas?

 

I was able to get a half inch drive socket on the nut, engine side and a wrench on the fender side. I believe that that bolt also needs to be in place when you install the box to the adapter plate...Mark


i read your post again, do you have the nut off already? If so you cannot extract that bolt until you remove the adapter plate.

 

Thanks Mark, I meant that I cannot seem to get a good bite on the nut and bolt to remove the nut itself. I'm also working in a tight spot with an oily bed to lay on, and power steering fluid dripping down on me.

So, that's adding to my frustration. I'll try again in the morning.

 

As I recall. a 1/2 inch drive, without an extension. I think that I put the socket on the nut, then put the ratchet into the socket. You may need some leverage, because those have a high torque. I'll look it up and post...Mark

 

Yah, this is the one that has the vacuum pump pod slightly above it, and below it, the cross member is running from one frame rail to the next. I'm soo tempted to cut that blasted crossmember out of the way!

 

I want to say I used an impact on some of those nuts... maybe an extension and universal? Sorry, can't remember precisely, and I did mine on a 93 W350 so not pod pump in the way.

 

There is barely enough room for a ratchet without an extension, once the nut is loose , it is easier to turn the bolt with a wrench...Mark

 

I'm finished. I did the repair, but still feel like the tank won this battle. It's fixed and I'm whooped.

I used a longer ratchet, and only have enough room the barely move the nut, then I would remove the socket, and click it by hand one notch and go again. Took a while, but it was finally loose enough for the air ratchet to slowly spin it off.

It wasn't over yet though. I had to remount the gear box to a 6x6 post, so I could use the pitman arm puller. Of course, it took me an hour of battle to come to this conclusion. Finally it broke off.

It's still not over. Torque is suppose to be 175ft lbs on the pitman arm. I hitting the old nut on the new power steering gear box with an impact good for 110ft lbs. It strips the threads in the nut. New nut, and the battle continues...Well, it actually went smooth after that.

Now, I now why the price is higher to work on diesels.

 

Mine was too stubborn for it be free floating. Unless you were able to use the impact gun on the puller, the puller I had was capped so I had to use a wrench.

 

I used 1 that is actually for a ford power smoke , it is gigantic and pulled the thing right off, with an impact wrench. I'll post a pic of it. The bolts that hold the adapter to the box are pretty high also, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to use a torque wrench on it. Some magic tool I guess Mark

 

Here is that tool, works really good...Mark

 

Sorry to be dense -- it appears the pitman arm is sited directly over the leaf spring with very little clearance.

So the steering gearbox must be removed from the frame with the pitman arm intact before a pitman arm puller can be utilized?

Thanks,