At a location with satellite (read: painfully slow) Internet, so searching is extremely painful. Searching pictures is even more so.

That said, what did I just snap in my steering assembly? Relative effort to fix? Any special tools? Any gotchas that a neophyte like me should know?

'76 F-250 4x4, 4-speed, D44, stock power assist steering - I think.

 

Looks like the pitman arm.
Finding one will probably be the hard part.
Replacing it is "relatively" easy (stressing "relative"). You'll need a wrench big enough to remove the nut on the end of the pitman shaft, a wrench to remove the nut on the tie rod end. A hammer and "pickle fork" to break the taper loose on the tie rod (sometimes just hitting the end of the pitman arm will break it loose, but I wouldn't count on it. You also might need a puller to separate the arm from the steering box, it's a splined shaft an sometimes they can be stubborn.

 

That's not a 1976 F250 4x4 Pitman arm, so I hope he knows which one to look for. Definitely not Power Assist.

 

Only snap on tool I own is a pitman arm puller. Makes this job super easy.

 

The part you need is:
Arm, steering gear sector shaft (AKA pitman arm)
Fits 76-77 F250 4WD before s/n Y20,001
P/N D6TZ-3590-C marked D6TA-3590- HA, NA

I did a search and unfortunately no dealer or obsolete parts suppler has one.

EDIT: Looking at it again, I think Akguy09 is correct. Disregard this post.

 

Thanks for the help, Mike. You were right about hard to find. No leads yet, but I'll keep looking.

And thanks AK. If it's not a '76 4x4, can you tell what it is? What additional pics/views would help identify it? I'll attempt to pull it off later, but Mike hasn't left me full of confidence.

Luckily it's in the driveway. Unluckily, it's hooked up to a car hauler loaded up with fire wood....and it ain't gettin' unhooked.

 

There looks to be some custom fabrication/adaptation on that rig.

Pitman arms usually have an engineering number cast on it... start scraping and wiping and ya might get lucky in finding it.

Alternatively and not advised for street use but only to get the truck movable is to sleeve, then perimeter weld, and plug weld the sleeve.

.

 

X2 on looks like it is NOT a pitman arm. And that is not the power assist steering set up, I believe it is the Integral Power Steering set up? Is the part that is very close to the bottom of the frame and going under it, attached to the steering box just on the other side? It looks that way to me.

The piece looks to have not much movement swing wise (no marks in the grease and dirt indicating movement). And I would think that a pitman arm WOULD/SHOULD have a fair amount of movement (swing). Can you take a pic of how it connects to the steering link and steering knuckle?

MacJ the diagram you requested it attached in a PDF form.

I found some discussion on the Integral Power Steering 66-77 F250 Highboy. See the pic in fig 1 of the link? That looks like what you have. Ford Highboy Power Steering - FORDification.com

 

3590 is the Pitman Arm (lower left in pic).

Garrison Power Assist P/S: 1973 F250 4WD; 1974 F250 4WD before serial number T80,001.

Bendix Power Assist P/S: 1974 F250 4WD from serial number T80,001; 1975/77 F250 4WD

 

Why does it look the the pitman arm is like a combo of a arm and drag link? It looks like it was hitting the frame with the travel of the suspension. Looks like the steering gear box is inside the frame and only 2 bolts holding it on.

 

To me it looks like someone put a 2 wheel drive box on there and adapted it to work. Notice the large hole in his frame where the original sector shaft would have come through like in the second set of pics posted by 77/79 F250.

 

I'm not a steering guru, but your set up is the same as my 78 and essentially what is shown in the pdf that Rich attached. I cant see a gap between the arm and your frame in your picture. The arm that broke swings over a pretty good range. If it was up against the frame that may be why it failed. Here's a few shots of my set up.

 

Rich and all,

Here are some additional pics. My set up looks like the integrated example, but not the first pic. This arm runs parallel to the drag link, and perpendicular to and JUST below the frame. It's very close. Like CH close.

You can see the power steering assembly has two bolts holding it as opposed to four, as someone else pointed out.

So I guess I'm back to square one. What steering setup do I have and what is this arm that broke?

One pic I took from directly below the end of the arm that connects to the steering box. You can see that half the nut is directly above the leaf spring. I don't see how I'd ever get a puller on the nut to get it off?

 

That is a 2wd box like mentioned. Myself I do not like that it is held on like that. theybused that because they didn't notch the crossmemeber. Without doing that a 78/79 3/4 ton 4wd box sits too far front and hits the radiator. They took the easy way out and made something that doesn't work. I'd take that stuff off and do it the right way.

 

X2 on 2wd steering box, mounted just a bit incorrectly. march has the same set up, just a flatter (newer?) pitman arm.

Read the link I posted in the #8 reply, that should get you goin on how to fix what you have. Yes 2 wd box just positioned to high and that caused the arm to bind on the frame and break?

To be able to get a puller on it, just up the front of the truck and get the suspension to dull drop.