I used a die grinder and cut the old pitman arm and chiseled it out. I replaced my upper control arms, lower ball joints, pitman and idler arms, CV axles and hub assemblies all at once. did use pickel fork on idler
That was weird when it broke loose. I did nothing the wind blew and it finally popped. Get a good pickle fork not that piece of crap 2 piece meant for a air hammer (which I own now) OTC makes a nice pickle fork set for 78 bucks shipped I may buy it, You get a ton of them.
I remember when I did mine the old arm was stuck on the main bar... couldn't get it to come off to save my life... i had the same exact puller as the one in the vid, and it just keeped bending it to one side. I had actually messed up the threads on the puller bolt. At that point along with aggravation and getting ate up witj mosquito's I finally grabbed my little oustide burner stand & propane lit it full blast and set the stuck the arm along w/the whole bar right in the middle of the burner for about 10 sec, then right after pulling it off I remember hitting it twice with a hammer before it slipped right off off......
I used my puller, bent if broke it, bought a better one. than heated it up with a torch, worked it with a hammer, tightened the puller, heated again, hit with hammer and tightened the puller. Finally popped out. Also sprayed it down alot.
I have a question, i have 03 avalanche and i need to replace the pitman so may question is, i need to look the steering wheel first??? I ask this bc my steering wheel dont get lock for some reason and i dont want mess the gear box
I made those same exact comments while replacing my front differential yesterday. My sides hurt from laughing so hard cause I swear I ruined a pickle by needing the force of God to get that thing off.
My american willies jeep having manual steering gear box.from long time i buy this jeep i can turn full only one side (up to tire touches the body.)But other side can turn only half only.So for turn other side i have to from and back the jeep 2-3 times.Where is the problem?How can i fix the problem.Please help me..
I have a 2004 yukon denali and I bought a front end steering suspension kit I will attempt to do the job my self but my question is ..in what order should I replace these parts . The parts are pitman arm idler arm idler arm brake upper control arms with ball joints. Lower ball joints tie rods sway bar links
Any order you want. Do the pitman arm and the idler arm at the same time. Any time. Then the ball joints. Then the tie rods and endlinks. Save the old tie rods and measure them, make the new ones the same and the alignment will be real close
surfclod how different was your truck. His has a lot more room than my 2500hd Sierra Duramax. I mean zero room. I’ve got to loosen the steering box and move it just to get the nut off. Ridiculous. I took a pickle fork and an air hammer and got it stuck. I’ll bang on it with a little sledge to see if it breaks loose in the morning.
so what happened to the transmission on this truck? Also, do you have ever the slightest play in the front drive shaft coming out of the transfer case? I can move my yoke, and the black boot about 1/16" of and inch up and down.
cant seem to get thee bottom of the idler arm bolt loose from the tire rod, The nut itself came off fine but now nothing will break it free the ilder arm from that bottom steering rod. I tried with pickle fork and a even puller but there is only metal to metal on the idler arm side with no gap or no fitting for it to grab onto. Do you have to take off the tire to get the right angle with the pickle fork? The bolt is frozen in, please help! I've been stuck working on it for two days with no luck
Oh you can't break thje joint? Probably the pickle fork you are using sucks, too big or too small and or the angle you are using the fork at is not ideal. Or hammer is too small. I had that happen. You could start beating the shit out of the side of the idler arm where the stud is. You can also slam on the center link but you are going to reuse that so if you are not careful you can seriously damage it. I would not recommend it unless you did it before. The "shock" will break the tapered joint. If you cut off part of the original idler arm stud (Its long!) you may also be able to get a puller on there that will fit. I would use maybe a better pickle fork and a larger hammer and make sure you are square on it.
If you hit on the area around the tapered joint it will pop. BUT you will beat up the area around it, Some hammers are more hardened. Its like how I did that but you wind up denting up the metal ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0n16XDJJdxs.html Think the splines being the joint.
+Ghetto Wagon thanks that vid made some more sense, thankfully I did find another tool so for anyone else reading that doesn't have extra gap, I got a Pittsburg bearing separator and puller set from HF (62593) and that finally worked. Had the collar cinch it up after a little work and then was able to get the screw to pop out the idler arm. Not sure if this was exactly the same as the tool is intended but it did the trick
+Ghetto Wagon thanks that vid made some more sense, thankfully I did find another tool so for anyone else reading that doesn't have extra gap, I got a Pittsburg bearing separator and puller set from HF (62593) and that finally worked. Had the collar cinch it up after a little work and then was able to get the screw to pop out the idler arm. Not sure if this was exactly the same as the tool is intended but it did the trick
I just changed the pitman on my 08 2500hd...somethin aint right! When using a pickle fork to separate the arm from the steering box gear shaft (if that's what it's called), the fork got stuck, and i consequently turned that gear so that I could knock the pickle fork off from the other side (the fork was too small im guessing). Then had a hell of a time getting the teeth on the arm aligned with those on the steering box. During the course of all this I had someone turn the wheel for me (stupid desperate mistake) to see if it could help align the teeth. Now, the steering is crazy undriveably off, I can only turn to the left, when I turn to the right it only goes so far before it can't turn any further. What should I do? (other than tow it to a shop)
You have the splines off on the pitman arm. You need to find the true center on the steering shaft/ steering wheel/ input on the steering box. Then reinstall the pit man arm. It may be tricky. The way I know the steering box is straight is by the flat that is ground into the steering box input shaft under the steering box. There used to be a flat on the top on the old saginaw steering boxes. I think on the delphi boxes there is a flat towards the drivers side but I am not sure. Not sure if this 06 will be set up the same as yours.
Thanks for the reply GW. The pitman arm for the 08 has 3 flat sections on shaft which correspond to ones on the arm, which I assumed were referred to as 'splines' (?). I've been in contact with a few mechanic buddies who mentioned other methods of find the center for the shaft position, I'll mention this to them about using the spline position as reference.
Oh this one has 3. No note the position of the steering shaft where it goes into the steering box. But then again the wheel will rotate past that spot. lock to lock. Sometimes there may even be a mark on the steering box where the assembler marked the straight ahead position. Next time you do this I would advise making a mark before you turn wheels I have a mark on mine
Has anyone had a problem where the pitman arm doesn't seat proper on the steering box? And if so what did you do? I hear replacment one's do not seat all the way and I have the correct part and all that. Do they actually not seat all the way? Wtf?
All the aftermarket ones dont fit well. I have a GM one im going to throw on because the moog piece of shit part that fits lower on the spline also seems to not hold up very good. It also throws off the steering wheel, its not clocked the same so you need to adjust your tie rods to correct the crooked wheel going down the road. Its a PITA to align these with string because the rear track is narrower than the front
