TxFront Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 I am in the middle of putting on my calmini steering kit on. The problem I am having is tring to get the pitman arm off. Does anyone have and tricks in getting this dam thing off? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jitterymonkey Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 I am in the middle of putting on my calmini steering kit on. The problem I am having is tring to get the pitman arm off. Does anyone have and tricks in getting this dam thing off? Haven't done mine yet. But I'm going to (hopefully) use a 2 armed puller from Harbor Freight & if that won't work? A little heat. Afraid of damaging the steering gear box seals though. What have you tried? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedPath88 Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 They are often a major PITA, PB Blaster as often as you can, keep it soaked. Heat while trying to pull it, but as was mentioned, watch the amount due to the PS Box seals. A 3lb short handled sledge to help break it fee is not a bad idea either. I have pulled a few and all of them were really stuck on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TxFront Posted March 30, 2009 Author Share Posted March 30, 2009 I have been hitting the pitman arm with PB blaster and using a pitman arm puller. I am just seeing if there is anything that I am missing. I really do not want to use any heat on the pitman arm. I know with my luck I will end up messing up the seals in the steering box and I will be worst off than I am now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indigent Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 I went through 2 days of pounding, and 3 pitman arm pullers when I recently did one. Do yourself a favor and go get a MAP gas torch. Heat that arm up and smack it with a hammer. I did that, and it came off in about 30 seconds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedPath88 Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 Heat is they key here, you can try too avoid using it (and hopefully you can) but in the end that is mostly likely what you will have to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MY1PATH Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 (edited) I had this problem some time ago, I used no heat; take 2 heavy hammers. (sledges would work great) PB BLAST and a pickle fork(tapered end separater) too. 1 givie it Good soak of PB BLAST 2 Positon one hammer against the side of the arm to use as a "bucking bar" and give the opposide side several good smacks with the second hammer. You are not beating the arm off, you are sending a shock thru it and the splines to help it break loose and for the PB to penetrate better. 3 slide the pickle fork in above the arm and drive it in with the hammer 4 if the arm does not budge in a few swings, leave the fork wedged in place (if it will stay) and repeat steps 1&2 I went thru steps 1&3 twice before I could get the arm to come off. But my pathy seems to be really nice to me as far as not having allot of stuck hardware so it may take several more tries on your end. Edited March 30, 2009 by MY1PATH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedPath88 Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 Well hopefully that does work... I had one that both the wrecking yard and I tried to get off. They tried for an 1-1/2 then I took the whole damned thing home and tried using a fork and blunt hits similar to the method you derscribed. Heat was the only thing that got it off. TxFront - Please keep in mind here that when we say use heat, it does not mean that you are turning the damned thing red or excessively heating the shaft. Apply heat to the *arm* not the shaft, and do so in multiple short periods of time, allowing it to cool in between. This causes the expansion and contraction of the metal arm and will eventually "break" it free from the shaft. Normally you would just heat both and get it done faster, but in this case you have seals on the shaft to consider, so you have to be careful in how warm to get that shaft Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sw Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 (edited) how bout a descent 2 arm puller the one i bought got the pitman straight off, which had never been off before buy cheap tools, what do you expect? Edited March 30, 2009 by sw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeV Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 I cut mine off, air grinder with cutting disc and it just fell off (I tried cooking, hammering, heat vision, F-bomb) finally just 30 seconds of zzzzing and done. carefully of course Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TxFront Posted March 31, 2009 Author Share Posted March 31, 2009 how bout a descent 2 arm pullerthe one i bought got the pitman straight off, which had never been off before buy cheap tools, what do you expect? I am using the pitman arm puller that you can rent from NAPA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TxFront Posted March 31, 2009 Author Share Posted March 31, 2009 I cut mine off, air grinder with cutting disc and it just fell off (I tried cooking, hammering, heat vision, F-bomb)finally just 30 seconds of zzzzing and done. carefully of course I thought about doing this. After all that is how I got the shafts out of the UCA to put in the aftermarket UCA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TxFront Posted March 31, 2009 Author Share Posted March 31, 2009 I had this problem some time ago, I used no heat;take 2 heavy hammers. (sledges would work great) PB BLAST and a pickle fork(tapered end separater) too. 1 givie it Good soak of PB BLAST 2 Positon one hammer against the side of the arm to use as a "bucking bar" and give the opposide side several good smacks with the second hammer. You are not beating the arm off, you are sending a shock thru it and the splines to help it break loose and for the PB to penetrate better. 3 slide the pickle fork in above the arm and drive it in with the hammer 4 if the arm does not budge in a few swings, leave the fork wedged in place (if it will stay) and repeat steps 1&2 I went thru steps 1&3 twice before I could get the arm to come off. But my pathy seems to be really nice to me as far as not having allot of stuck hardware so it may take several more tries on your end. I like this idea thanks for the heads up. I am going to give this a try tomorrow if not then it will be buzz buzz with the cut off wheel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexrex20 Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 better get this done in time for barnwell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TxFront Posted March 31, 2009 Author Share Posted March 31, 2009 better get this done in time for barnwell Yes sir I am hoping to get this done if not I can always take the frontier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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