Well ive been readin up on easy ways to remove the pitman arm, and i found a myth that it you take 2 5lb sledge hammers and hit both sides of the pitman arm at the same time, it pops right off. ANy of you guys heard of this? tryed this? this is the one thing stopping me from buying a lift. Im just really worried that ill have everything on and then get stumped by the damn pitman arm.

 

yup the pitman arm is a bitch. what i have done in the past is pull the steering gearbox to be able to work on it on the bench and I use a 2 jaw puller and an impact wrench crank on it for a wile then hit the top and jaws of the puller with a 3lb mini sledge and repeat until it pops loose.

 

Places like autozone rent pitman arm pullers for free, you just need a compressor and impact gun. Much easier than this hammer approach, or taking the box out.

 

the method of "shocking" a stuck bolt or similar peice of metal with the energy trapped between 2 hammers works for some things..

not sure it would work on a tapered spline of a pitman arm thou...

it does work for things like a stuck balljoint or similar....soak teh pitman arm interface for a few weeks with penetrating fluid before u try the lift... i bet if u let the fluid soak in, when the time comes the pitman arm wont be a issue...

expect to need a proper pitman arm puller thou...get a real one, not some cheapy either...

 

Here's what I used, it worked great!,it works for the 99-04 also:Detail Page for 41970 Heavy Duty Pitman Arm Puller Ford - Lisle Corporation

 

This approach does work, particularly for tapered shafts. The idea is that you actually distort the socket that the shaft seats in, open it up a little. Can't say it would work in every situation, but the theory is sound, in my experience. I've always removed things like tie rod ends that way (for those you don't need two hammers, you just give the end of the spindle arm or whatever a good rap.) Works way better than the fork...

 

I used a puller and an impact gun, got it REALLY tight, then tapped the end of the puller with a 4 lb. sledge and it popped loose. I did think the puller was going to break though, it didn't come off easy.

 

I've had success with penetrating oil and a pickle fork and a sledge using the ramp of the fork to get it tight then hitting the arm to loosen then repeat when the fork goes all the way in you can normally pry it the rest of the way..... Done it 4 or more time on different vehicles. I do the same to tie rods with a smaller fork

 

Just use a pitman arm puller and a "good" impact gun. If it gives you problems smash on it with a mini sledge while you using the impact gun. Don't just tap it, be a man and smash it like you are trying to kill it... It'll come off..

 

I have yet to find a pitman arm that I cant remove.
Very little effort and with just a blip of the impact, they always come right off. I have tried the two arm pullers and they tend to lean over and get crazy. There is not enough room for the multi jaw units, and the distance between the pitman arm and the box itself limits the amount of tools that actually fit correctly.

Snap On makes a jewel of a tool, and it has never let me down. Almost too easy with this:

 

Thats a much better design than the one I used. It was a cheap two-prong we had lying around that I didn't care about breaking.

 

Use a puller or leave it alone.. IMO

 

Beating on the pitman arm is a bad idea in my opinion when using a pickle fork type remover. There are bearings and such that are taking a beating and I'd rather use a more controlled approach like an actual puller.

 

Silly question: It is necessary to take the weight off the front wheels (jack up th front end) in order to replace the tie rod ends on the pitman arm? ...in other words...the entire pitman arm.

Or can it be done with front end on the ground?

 

From the ground is fine.