I've got a stuck pitman arm, and I mean stuck. I've plenty of pullers but nothing has budged this thing. I would like to put the torch to it (the steering box is no good and is off the truck, so there's no fire hazard), but I'm uncertain if this will hurt the arm. Is it tempered steel? If so, will heating it destroy the temper?

Any hints on how to loosen this thing will be appreciated.

Thanks

 

i had to change the angle on mine so i got it red hot to bend it and havent had any problems yet and its been 2 yrs.

 

Get the proper puller and tighten it with an impact wrench.

Now use a BFH.
Smack the pitman arm and the end of the bolt on the puller.

Been there, done that.

 

heat-bad


never heat

 

Well, for better or for worse, it has been heated and it is off. I put a three jaw puller on it and torqued it as much as I could. I wanted plenty of tension on it, hoping that it would pop off by itself while being heated. I then heated it. When it hadn't come loose under the tension from the puller, I smacked the puller screw with a heavy hammer. The pittman popped off.

The joke on me is that I hadn't thought about the fact that I was also heating up the puller. When I laid into the screw with the hammer, one lick and the screw bent into a U-shape. Some times my ignorance amazes me.

Thanks to you all for your suggestions.

 

Heat is bad. If you heat it so red color shows you have lost the heat treatment and it could break while driving. It is possible to heat one to 250 to 300 degrees with out significant impact on strength, but if it turned red so you could bend it. I would be really worried. You might be lucky but there is no way to tell when/if a stress fracture might occur. I would look for other options than heating.

Jim

 

do not apply heat to any critical forging as this will partially anneal the heated area & it will fail with time, not tomorrow but when you least expect it, a good penetrating oil (I recommend KROIL from Kano labs in Nashville) allowed to wick into the joint while under tension for 20 to 30 min, then a good hit with a 5lb hand drilling hammer should work, if you have to go through any more than that you should just replace the arm as the splines are probably damaged, good luck!