FJ60 Pitman arm install trouble

[JLH911]

I'm having trouble getting the pitman arm back onto the steering gearbox. It's still got about an inch of splines showing.

I've tightened it to the point where I'm getting to the recommended torque setting but still it won't go higher up the splines.

I walked away from it for now for fear of stripping the threads.

Oh and yes, I have backed out the nut and re-tightened it to see if it'd slide up a little further. No go.

Could it be that the splines are not aligned correctly?

 

[orangefj45]

post a pic.


georg

 

[JLH911]

I'm wondering now if the powdercoating made a sort of lip on the top part making it tuff to slide up..

 

[Cruiserdrew]

That looks normal, or almost normal. Why don't you pull it off, carefully clean the splines with a brass brush and solvent and then install again. It does not go all the way up the splines.

 

[CardinalFJ60]

looks about right...

I just replaced mine last summer, I recall the same scenario. I'll look tonight and report back.

 

[JLH911]

That looks normal, or almost normal. Why don't you pull it off, carefully clean the splines with a brass brush and solvent and then install again. It does not go all the way up the splines.

Funny...I just did all that. I'm going to put some soapy water on the splines and try again.

 

[JLH911]

Okay, here's how close it is now at the bottom to being flush:




Good enough or should I crank on it more?

 

[Michael Hanson]

its fine. MIke

 

[tag3]

Agreed with Mr. Hanson.

 

[orangefj45]

yup, you're good to go. the top of the splines does taper......

speaking of taper, did the entire pitman arm get powder coated or were the splines and tapered hole for the TRE masked off to prevent powder coating in those two areas?

georg

 

[JLH911]

yup, you're good to go. the top of the splines does taper......

speaking of taper, did the entire pitman arm get powder coated or were the splines and tapered hole for the TRE masked off to prevent powder coating in those two areas?

georg

The holes were taped off. there was a little residual surface rust on the steering gear box splines that developed as it sat for a couple of months. Once I cleaned that off and put a little soapy water on it, it went a little easier.

 

[Dynosoar]

Looks good to me torque it down and check it in 1,000 mi.


Dyno

 

[dtt255]

Are there aftermarket arms or just find some good used ones?

 

[penny88]

threads

It looks fine, may be threads are slipped slightly.

 

[JLH911]

Okay, now I know how far up it should be bit the question I have for those that have done this do you use the method in the fsm that involves finding the center of the gearbox's turning parameters or just get the wheels straight and eyeball it?

 

[FJ60Cam]

Isn't there some sort of mark on both the arm and the shaft? I thought I remembered using that.

 

[JLH911]

Isn't there some sort of mark on both the arm and the shaft? I thought I remembered using that.

Hmm, I know there is one on the gearbox shaft.

 

[samibattlemaiden]

i can tell you from experiance 2 things.
1 i dont care what the vehicle is there is extra spline on the back of the arm
1.5 you will eat the threads right off the nut long before you get it to go too far on but, not before you hafta get the big breaker bar on it
2 if there were any residual powdercoat or "over spray" on the splines that stuff chips right off as soon as you put some love on it.

 

[JLH911]

Extra spline where?

 

[Cruiserdrew]

No extra splines to index it on Toyota, unlike GM.

There are faint indexing marks on the pittman and the sector shaft.