Hey all so i went to replace my steering linkage this morning(inner & outer tie rods, tie rod sleeves, centerlink and idler arm)

Tie rods came out of spindle fine with a bang of a hammer, but the Pitman arm will not budge off the center link! I sat whacking it with a hammer for 45mins and it wouldnt move. I ran to autozone and bought a pickle fork hammered at it for another hour with the pickle fork, and STILL, this thing will not move!

I am able to get the pickle fork about half way in but then it wont go further, anything else i can try or is my center link threads bent in? Not sure whats causing this to not drop but its really aggravating!!

Any tips or advice is greatly appreciated, thanks all!

 

Heat up the pitman arm.

 

Like with a torch? heat up the pitman arm wherre it comes in contact with the centerlink?

 

Yup, yup. then whack the pitman arm right were the ball joint stud sticks through. The goal is to upset the seat of the pitman arm so the ball joint stud falls out.

 

ok and this is safe with an open flame and all the grease, dirt and crap all over everything?

 

For the most part, yes, however, Becareful and have a extinguisher close.

 

You Could Try A Pitman Arm Puller.

 

sounds scary!

Correct me if im wrong but i believe the pitman arm puller is used to pull the pitman off the steering box.

 

You don't need a Pitman arm puller.

You don't need heat. (not saying it won't make it eeeezyer or anything; just, you don't need it)

DO NOT hit the Pitman arm.

You don't need to be doing ANYTHING to the Pitman arm at all. Leave it alone.

Loosen the nut on the center link joint where it attaches to the Pitman arm, about 3 turns or so should do it. Tickle THE NUT (still threaded onto the center link joint of course) gently with your BFH in a downward direction. Remove the nut and allow gravity to take over.

 

What do you mean by tickle... Hit the nut? First i have the nut all the way off and i have attempted to hammer the threads itself on the top side of the centerlink to pop it down out of the pitman arm, so if i thread the nut back on the center link and attempt to tickle, or hammer, it all i'll be hitting is the threads.....?

Im not trying to sound rude, ive been hammering this thing in all directions for hours now, with pickle fork and with out. gravity is still not in affect

If you can clear that up a bit i still love all the advice i just want to make it known ive tried to hit from above and down already.

Thanks all

 

Well i grew some *****, got the torch out, heated the pitman arm up, smacked the threads and................



Shes out!!!! Thanks all for the info and advice, if your gonna use your torch i suggest

a- clean the area your going to heat
b- have a fire extinguisher!!!!

 

I'm surprised you were able to get enough heat with a propane torch

 

Propane burns pretty hot..

I always have a bottle or 2 of map gas tho. That stuff burns really hot.

 

propane will get it hot enough to expand the metal away from the stud just enough to break it free.. a little heat goes a long ways if you apply it properly..

 

Exactly right. Just enough to expand the piece. Sometimes a wack with a hammer to "shock" it will help as well.

See, we have that Minnesota lock tight here and are forced to come up with ways to disassemble things.

 

Ive got a tie rod that needs replacing and after reading for hours on here ive decided to do all rods, sleeves and centerlink as one. I planned to order from summitracing but I cant seem to find an ACdelco centerlink from them that works with our cars. Ive found it on Rock auto but I was hoping to order all the steering parts together on summit. I emailed them but havent got a reply yet but any chance anyone may know the summit part number for the center link? Ive found the delco idler arm and as far as I can tell I should be safe with moog tie rods.