So my steering is messed up and I took it down to the shop for estimate. Then took the estimate sheet and decided to do it myself, so i know what parts i need to order.


On summitracing.com i cannot find pitman arms specifically for a 1987 pontiac firebird, are they fairly generic and will work from anything? I had the same trouble at autozone. What should i do? thanks

 

Non-wear item.

JamesC

 

yeah, the pitman arm is a non wear part, the only time you replace it is if it breaks, and thats about never. you dont need it.

 

Maybe you meant an Idler arm?

 

The list had that also. So i should skip ordering the pitman?

 

Without front end damage, I can't imagine that the car would require a new pitman. Replacement is rare.

JamesC

 

If your now not sure, maybe have another (reputable) shop estimate the front end for any worn parts.

 

Wheel pulls and shakes at 60, ive never personally damaged the front steering and it was fine when bought. Other items they said was outer tie rod ends, idler arms and tires.

 

Sounds like they want to replace the whole front end minus ball joints. Get another opinion from another shop before throwing parts at it.

 

It's possible the center link is worn or loose in the pitman arm. You would need a new center link but it's highly unlikely it would wear the hold in the pitman arm.

Steering components can be purchased from you local parts store. I wouldn't recommend using a house brand as they're usually cheap offshore components. Stay with a good brand name such as Moog. I used a house brand tie rod on my truck many years ago. It wore out in 12,000 km. I paid the extra money for a Moog one and it's still on the truck.

When in doubt, replace all the steering parts. they're all getting old and worn.

Center link
Idler arm
Inner and outer tie rods on both sides
The tie rod sleeves should also be replace so you don't have to fight with them to get the old tie rods out.
Ball joints can probably stay unless they can be determined to be worn.

Other than a slight adjustment with the idler arm, the only real adjustment is the tie rod ends. Take off an old one (one side at a time) and measure it from grease nipple to grease nipple. Adjust the new one to the same length and put it on. That will get your alignment close enough to drive to an alignment shop.

Since the pitman arm is basically pressed onto the steering box shaft by the nut on one end and has a hole at the other end for the center link to slide into, there's absolutely no reason to diagnose a bad pitman arm unless the car's been in an accident and the pitman arm has been damaged. Other vehicles have a different steering design where a ball socket is part of the pitman arm but for cars like these, that design hasn't been used since before the third gens.

I'd also say to go to a different shop. If that one is saying you need a pitman arm, who knows what else they say you need that you don't need. Having the steering wheel shake and pull isn't always steering components.

One of my trucks drove fine but always had a pull to the right. I even put it on an alignment rack to check things out and everything was fine so I just lived with it for a long time. Finally I blew out a sidewall on some railway tracks. Put new tires on the truck and the pulling went away. One of the tires had a bad belt causing it to pull. A bad tire could also cause a vibration problem. You could end up changing all your steering components and still have a shake and pulling if you just need tires. There's also a possibility of a bent rim but any tire shop should be able to spot that.

 

You can buy a complete front end replacement setup with ball joints, tie rods, idler arm and centre control bar for about $150 fro memory. It's cheap, just replace the lot. It one part has worn the others probably have too.

1aauto and rockauto seem to have good deals.

He probably meant Idler arm, not Pitman arm.

 

Side note, not sure if you know this or not but plan on getting an alignment when done. You will not be able to get it back to perfect when you put the steering parts back on. The best way to approach it is to drop from outer tie-rod to outer tie-rod in all one piece, assemble the new one to the same overall length, and drive STRAIGHT to the alignment shop.