My pitman arm is refusing to come off. I have a puller on there, have tried using a 580ft/lbs impact wrench, a breaker bar with a long piece of cheater pipe on there, and soaked it in PB blaster. The puller is on there so tight right now the impact wrench won't back it off, and I think I'm gonna have to get an even longer cheater pipe to loosen it up.

I don't want to heat it up much because I'm worried it might damage the seals in the steering box.

Any tricks to getting the dang thing off?

 

Going to have to use a little heat to break the rust.

 

I sheared the top off my puller then had to remove the box along with the pitman arm, Once in a vice I was able to unwind the puller using long pry bars then used another puller, a swift tap with a 10lb sledge and it popped off. I ended up changing my steering box anyway.

 

Is it a big hassle to remove the steering box and put it back in? Sounds like it could be a pain to get the power steering system primed again.

 

Have you tried the big hammer method yet? Once you have the puller on relatively tight, hitting the pitman arm with your bfh usually is enough to break it free.

 

If you have a good pitman arm puller it should be designed to be hit hard on the bolt end with a hand sledge after it's torqued down.

If that doesn't get it old trick is to hit opposite sides of the arm where the shaft passes though at the same time, hammer in each hand.
Been a while since I looked close to see if room allows this on a Ram though.

 

Find a big Ballpeen hammer and swing like you mean it. Do it with the puller still on there and tight. Should work it loose in a few whacks. A good 190mm air hammer might do the trick too.

 

I third or fourth the hammer method worked for me

 

Is there enough room to get an air hammer on the top of the pitman arm?

 

Thanks for all the suggestions. I don't have an air hammer, but would it hurt to just cut it close to all the way off with a cutting wheel if I can't get it off with the puller and lots of hammering? I'd have to be careful to stop short of hitting the shaft from the steering box... but I don't see why that wouldn't work. I have a new one I'll be putting on anyway.

 

if you don't have a torch, that's the way to do it!!!!!

 

Steering box comes out easy and the arm is much more accessible on the bench. Besides it's good practice for these trucks as steering always seems an issue,

 

i helped a buddy of mine put a lift in his super poopy and we used my grinder with a cut off wheel to notch the pitman arm in several places, we stopped just short of the splines and it came off pretty easy after that.

i dont mean to hijack the thread but for those of you who have replaced the steering box where did you get it and how much was it? thanks

 

Don't you have to bleed the power steering system if you pull the steering box off? I've read that some here say bleeding the system out can be a real pain.

 

I had problems with my steering box right from the factory. After giving them a couple of tries at the problem I would just pull the box, set the input shaft pre-load and reinstall it. Never bled it once, I just made sure that the lines didn't leak fluid. I did this a number of times until I eventually broke down and installed a new aftermarket box cost $425 I think. I didn't bleed the new one either and it worked ok from the start. That's 6-7 years ago.