I am trying to get the pitman arm off a power steering gearbox from a 1981. I have used every kind of lubricant, heat, broken 2 $100 pitman arm pullers and 3 pulley pullers before that. Does anyone have another suggestion besides cutting the pitman arm off and getting another? Does anyone have a pitman arm for sale? I am afraid Advanced Autoparts is going to stop loaning me pitman arm puller......
Pitman Arm Removal HELP!!!!!
- Thread starter nfrontofu
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rusty_tlc
Dain Bramaged Member
Get the puller on it and tighten it up, torque it to two uggs and a grunt. Then give the puller screw a whack or two with a BFH.
I bought/used the Snap-on puller Poser recommended in his link:
Snap On CJ119B
and as he said, it seems...
"Everything else is a waste of time and money."
Also the Snap-on guy said if I ever broke it (I think they do break sometimes), he would replace it for free.
Wear safety glasses and be cool
Snap On CJ119B
and as he said, it seems...
"Everything else is a waste of time and money."
Also the Snap-on guy said if I ever broke it (I think they do break sometimes), he would replace it for free.
Wear safety glasses and be cool
Coolerman
SILVER Star
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Air Hammer with a blunt nosed tip, and a Craftsman 3 jaw puller. 
Install puller and tighten. Angle the air hammer tool and start hammering. Move it around the circumference. Took just seconds on my Cruiser and a couple of minutes on the mini box.
Install puller and tighten. Angle the air hammer tool and start hammering. Move it around the circumference. Took just seconds on my Cruiser and a couple of minutes on the mini box.
When I took the one off the manual box I cut it off with an angle grinder. But I didn't need it anymore...
- Thread starter
- #8
Still no luck. I am going to go look for a snap-on cj119b today. I am also going to see if I can find an 8 # sledge hammer and an anvil. Thanks for the tips.
I just pulled the pitman arm off my manual Steering Gear box....What a pain in the ass. This was the technique I used. First I would heat the pitman arm with a Map gas torch and let it cool, repeat all the time spraying it with PB Blaster (when cooling). Next I attached the puller and tightened it up until I could not tighten it any more and then put the heat to it, finally it released. If you have plenty of tension on the arm heating will finally break it loose you just need to get it really Fing HOT. I’m not sure if heating, cooing, and lubricating the arm helped but it defiantly didn’t hurt, I do know when it broke loose it made a loud POP. I would say that lots of tension and heat will do the trick, also the Map gas is much hotter than propane an acetylene torch would also work.
Good luck!
Corey
Good luck!
Corey
Did my pitman arm with the puller and hammer method previously mentioned. Worked like a charm! I first soaked the pitman shaft with PB Blaster. I had my $15 pitman arm puller snugged to two ugh's and a grunt. I then took my two 2 lb BFH's and smacked the opposing sides simultaneously. It took a few wacks but it definitely did the job. Just remember to keep the puller uber snugged in between wacks.
cruiserbrett
GOLD Star
that pitman arm puller is junk. I have broken two and the snap on guy was an ass to deal with. KD tools sold at napa had a nice puller that has worked every time and never broken.
Blue77FJ40
SILVER Star
I found that in addition to using a quality puller tightened to the proper tension and liberal use of Kroil, I use two small sledges at the same time. I whack against opposite sides simultaneously. I think that the reverberations/vibrations are what do the trick with a particularly stuck pitman arm. HTH
pbgbottle
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i couldn't get mine off either one day ,i beat the crap out of it put the puller on as tight as i could get it .wacked it a few more times .sprayed with lubricant .nothing . left the puller on over night . frustrated ,
came out in the morning and gave it a wack and off it poped .
came out in the morning and gave it a wack and off it poped .
My method, it's never failed: I use a pitman arm puller, tightened to the max with a 1/2" torque wrench. Take cutting torch and start heating the arm around the circumference of the shaft. It'll come. Stand back, when it lets go it's pretty violent. (No more tightening once you start applying heat).
- Thread starter
- #15
It worked Texx!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Finally came off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now for the hard part. I have to rebuild the powers steering gearbox. I bought the toyota oem rebuild kit from cruiser dan. Any suggestions or tips... Thanks again......
If you do not have the factory service manual describing this procedure, I would get that first thing.
Take a lot of pictures and post them up in another thread.
- Thread starter
- #18
I got one of 2 left in the country from cruiser dan about 2 months ago. He said that based on the sales volume it would be discontinued when the last one was sold. Where or how do I get my hands on a factory service manual?
Great advice. I was about to throw in the towel getting mine off of my '69. I hit it with map gas last weekend, but I guess I didn't get it hot enough. Went back again after reading this thread and kept at it alternating heat and hammer...finally broke free!
