The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk pittman arm removal

working on my 46 1/2 ton and need to get the steering box removed. used a 6" 2 jaw puller to try and remove the pittman arm from the steering box shaft and no go no way. soaked it in kroil and still no luck. bigger puller? odl mechanics wizardry? unfortunately heat is not an option right now as i dont have access to tanks at the moment. any help is much appreciated.

big ed

You'll need a pitman arm puller, rather than a jaw tpe. The pitman pullers won't slip off as easily, and can put more force on it.
Try putting some tension on it, then a few whacks with a hammer, preferrably a brass head hammer, pull for tension, whack it again. Should pop off, literally, so watch out. Done them many times like that.

Bill is right, the pitman puller looks like an upside down u-shape with edges that fit under the arm, and a big bolt going through the canter to push on the shaft.
And they do pop off with a bang!
Good luck!

Here is the puller I use http://www.harborfreight.com/tie-rod-and-pitman-arm-puller-1752.html
With this puller, the arm comes off real easy.

Thats the correct tool although probably a wimpy version for ten bucks, the snap-on version is much more expensive, but for a one time deal the HF is probably a good bet, cheap enough if it breaks.

I went cheap on the tool because I will use it only once or twice in its lifetime. For me the decision to go cheap correlated with return on investment. Others will disagree.

no disagreement here, makes good sense!

thanks to all.....am on my way today to get a pittman puller.

I had to remove mine recently and took it by my alignment shop and they removed the nut and struck the bottom of the steering arm hitting straight up with a large ball peen hammer. On the second hit, it poped out. Don't hit the arm from the side, only from the bottom. If you have the HF puller, obviously that is the way to go.
John

When using the pitman arm puller, loosen the nut on the pitman shaft that holds the arm on, but DO NOT remove the nut. Leave it on the pitman shaft a few turns so when the pitman arm "pops" loose, it will be contained to the shaft, possibly causing some damage to the person pulling the pitman arm or to something near the truck, or even the truck itself.
No need to learn the hard way when you have someone telling you this who did learn the hard way!

Just a FYI. Autozone rents the pitman arm puller for free.. Of course you have to put like $12 down, but bring it back whenever your done and get your cash back.