anesthes

iTrader: (12)

Anyone know the propper procedure for this?

I know it sounds simple, but first let's explain what I mean.

You have a vehicle with a junk box. You buy a new box and pitman arm. Pitman arm goes on the box 4 different ways. How do you know when it's on dead center so that your wheels will turn equal ammounts in each direction?

Ilooked in the factory service manual and it said "Mark pitman position before replacing arm" which is trivial if you were replacing the arm on an allready centered box. But if you have no box, a new box and new arm, how do you ensure it is centered?

If you just slap it in, and correct it with alignment, I think the car will turn more one way than the other because of the internal stops in the box.

-- Joe

rstanko

You can turn the box by hand, start at full lock in one direction, as you are turning to the other lock, count the number of turns. Divide that in half, turn back towards the other lock that number you got when you divided. This is half of full travel.

Then, orientate the pitman arm towards the rear of the box (should line up with one of the indexing pins). When you connect it to the intermediate shaft, the wheels should be facing forward, as close to straight ahead as possible.

anesthes

iTrader: (12)

So thats really it huh?

I was wanting to install the pitman arm off of the vehicle, and bolt the whole unit up. So I guess the only way is to center the box first, then install the pitman arm on the vehicle..

-- Joe

C&DPerformance

As long as you have the box centered put the pitman on facing strait back. If you have it off 90 degrees you want be able to hook it to the center link. Try to put it on with an impact gun. Don't let it go to lock and tighten against it. You will take out the lower seal that way.

AlkyIROC

You should be able to grab the input shaft with a pair of vise grips enough to turn it. Even on a bench, you can go lock to lock. Find the half way point and as mentioned above, install the pitman arm so it points to the rear. With 90* between mounting points, it's going to be obvious if it's not installed properly.

You probably don't even have to go lock to lock. There's only going to be one mounting position with the pitman arm pointed towards the rear even if the box isn't centered. A typical power steering box will turn about 3-1/2 turns on the input shaft. The pitman arm shaft will only move about 45* or so.

Blackknight

iTrader: (1)

Can anyone givee me a detailed instruction of how to align the pitman arm again? And what are the degrese it uses?