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Does anybody know what year model truck the Pittman arm is the right lenth to correct "bumpsteer" on a '51 truck? I removed the 1-3-5 springs as explained by waldo to lowered the front end.

Dendo;
I don't know of a factory replacement arm that will work for you.

First, take a look at your drag link, is it fairly close to parallel with the frame rails? If not, that's probably the cause of the bumpsteer. There's a couple of things that rodders have been doing for years to correct this:
1. You can shorten your stock pitman arm by cutting, and re-welding it. I took mine to a professional welder and had him tig weld it and put a reinforcement plate on top of that. It's stronger now than a stock arm. I wouldn't take much more than 2" out of it as you could shorten your turn radius. I took 2 1/2" out of mine and can still turn lock to lock.

2. You can heat and bend down the drivers side steering arm (where the drag link connects) but make sure you have clearance all the way around before you do this.

3. I hear you can also "flip" the drag link to steering arm connection but I've never tried this. There was a post on the forum here not too long ago about doing this.

4. Another thing you can do is relocate your steering box higher off the frame using a homemade bracket. I've got a picture of the one I made somewhere in the dropped axle album.

The goal is to level out that drag link. The closer to level, the less bumpsteer you'll have.

waldo,
did you move your steering box and cut the pittman arm? How much did you remove on the drag link? can you email me at dennis1959@bellsouth.net
Thanks
Dennis

o.k. Waldo

dendo,
on my 57, i used a 3 inch dropped axle, and removed only 1 leaf, so i only had to cut my drag link and remove 1.250 out of it.
i slid a piece of pipe onto the drag link, pushed it to one side, tig welded the two pieces of drag link together, the slid the piece of pipe centered over the weld, then tig welded that to the drag link as well.

http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/...00/?action=view&current=DSC01379.jpg

also, i had to modify my steering arm to clear my drivers side shock and leaf spring u-bolts, so i cut a .500 section out of it, and tig welded the eye back on. i would have heated it and bent it, as waldo did, but i dont have a torch. LOL.

http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/...00/?action=view&current=DSC01381.jpg

i did lose a very little bit of turning radius, but not bad at all.

hope this helps, but im sure waldo has got you headed in the right direction.

leonard