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I am trying to remove the pitman arm from the steering gear; I have a front end tool set with a "proper" pitman arm puller. The pitman arm is right up against the steering gear; there is no room to get the removal tool underneath the arm. What should I do ?
Some background:
1) My steering gear was leaking, and for a quick (ie I will rebuild it whenI have time later) and cheap fix I got another steering gear off a junkyard 1994 E-250. The gear from the junkyard is the exact same part number as my steering gear; however, the pitman arms are different.
2) I am trying to take the pitman arm off my original gear to put on the junkyard gear. The pitman arm that is on the junkyard gear has some space between the gear and arm to get the removal tool properly underneath, but the gear out of my van has zero space to fit the tool.
What gives ?
Here is a picture of the steering gear from my van, notice how snug the pitman arm is to the gear:
If you have the kind of tool below, you should be able to smack it enough to get it in there. Or try pickle fork or slimmer prying tools to get started.
Simply loosen the sector shaft adjustment nut and turn the adjuster screw in (clockwise) a few turns
That will lower the sector shaft in the gear housing and give you the clearance needed for the tool
Also,
If you hit it hard enough with a big hammer in the right spot, it will pop off of there too
Simply loosen the sector shaft adjustment nut and turn the adjuster screw in (clockwise) a few turns
That will lower the sector shaft in the gear housing and give you the clearance needed for the tool
Also,
If you hit it hard enough with a big hammer in the right spot, it will pop off of there too
Thanks for the advice, so to be sure the sector shaft is that which is in the direction of the pitman arm (ie NOT the input shaft, which is perpendicular to the sector shaft ?
Right, the sector shaft is what the pitman arm mounts to
That shaft moves up and down with the adjustment screw (to set the gear clearance / sector shaft lash)
You need to screw that in about 3 turns to get the tool in there on it
You will need to have the gear turned away from center to allow that
Just count the threads and put it right back where it was, then double check the gear clearance
Or
You could find a puller like this Matco one
I have a few, they break during heavy use
I have never broken this Matco one and it will fit in there most likely
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