Forum Discussion
BobsYourUncle
Jun 16, 2013Nomad
Changing an idler or pitman arm is not that hard to do. I've changed dozens of them over the years.
One tool that is essential is a tie rod / ball joint splitter, pickle fork as we call them.
Take the nut off and insert splitter between arm and ball joint and give it good smack with a stout hammer and it comes apart.
The idler arm is bolted to the frame and the pitman arm resides on the end of the steering shaft coming out of the steering box. Pitman arm will have a good stout nut on the end of the shaft to take off with a large socket and breaker bar.
Strange it should wear out so early.... I have about 205,000K or 127,000 miles on my GM Dually and I'm running all the original steering components. And it's still tight. I grease it regularly and thats all.
One tool that is essential is a tie rod / ball joint splitter, pickle fork as we call them.
Take the nut off and insert splitter between arm and ball joint and give it good smack with a stout hammer and it comes apart.
The idler arm is bolted to the frame and the pitman arm resides on the end of the steering shaft coming out of the steering box. Pitman arm will have a good stout nut on the end of the shaft to take off with a large socket and breaker bar.
Strange it should wear out so early.... I have about 205,000K or 127,000 miles on my GM Dually and I'm running all the original steering components. And it's still tight. I grease it regularly and thats all.
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