[FIRST_TIME_DIESEL]

Hey everyone i'm having a lot of trouble removing my pitman arm to finish installing the rest of my lift. Ive been soaking it in pb blaster for the last 4 days. The bottom nut is off but the arm itself isnt budging. I read that using a pickle fork on alternating sides then a pitman arm puller should work, but it hasnt. I called the local ford diesel master tech and he suggested the same thing. I really dont want to cut it off if possible, but i dont know what else to do. So far here is what i've tried and the results

-pickel fork and puller: broke the puller (bent it out around the arm and damaged the pullers bolt

-grinding the pickle fork down to increase the thickness before it hits the splines: deformation of the fork

-hiting the arm on both sides at once with metal hammars: Lots of noise, no movement

-hitting a flat head in over the fork: diggin into the metal of the fork, no gap increase

Any ideas? Winter is coming quick and i need my truck back on the road, the bike wont do too well in the snow. Thanks much, have a good one.

 

[Chiller]

I just want to clarify that you are using a pitman arm puller not a normal puller. We tried to remove mine with a three prong puller did not work. The pitman arm puller pop that thing right off. Dont use a impact to spin the puller use a wrench and breaker bar. You wont get enought torque with the impact.

 

[FIRST_TIME_DIESEL]

the puller we used was an actual pitman arm puller. however, it was too narrow to fit around my pitman arm in any orientation so we ended up grinding down the pitman arm. Did yours fit on without any modification? I am wondering if we just got a crappy and too small puller? My next move was going to be a three arm snap on puller my neighbor has if he can find it, but im thinking of cutting the darn thing off now because we just broke the fork. everyone that i talked to said it should come right off. This might sound dumb but can you describe everything you did? I mean we took off the bottom nut and washer then started this crap. Is there something we are missing? Thanks much, have a good one.

 

[Chiller]

From what I remember: the puller was a larger one that i rented from autozone. Ill tell you what we did step by step. 1) Put puller on and tightened the **** out of it. 2) Hit the pitman arm with a hammer. 3) tightened again and let it sit. 4) smoke/coffee break 5) hit it with a hammer agian lol 6) touched the breaker bar and BANG it broke loose. Thats what we did. I wouldnt use the snap on puller we tried that first and it kept falling off. I would be careful if you cut it wouldnt want to mess up those threads.

 

[FIRST_TIME_DIESEL]

well thanks for the advice, i def appreciate it. What you described is basically everything we did. I broke a different 2 arm puller (sheared a pin right off) using a 4 ft breaker bar. I was too scared to go crazy with the snap on puller because there was almost no contact patch between the arms and the pitman arm, and my buddy got hit in the face with it on his first try. On my autozone puller, we mushroomed the bolt and bent the arms out. this is crazy! No matter what we do we are not seeing this thing budge at all. I think we are resorting to cutting it tonight because i need to have this done before winter hits. Thanks again, have a good one.

 

[Chiller]

Good luck! when you get it off take a picture im interested to see what this pitman arm looks like when your all done! hehehe

 

[FIRST_TIME_DIESEL]

HAHA ok. My buddy is heading over to my place in an hour to start the cutting process, but i have a feeling it wont go quick.

 

[1tonpower]

get your self a new puller get a load on it and then start worming the the pitman arm. a little heat goes along way.

 

[STANGMAN893]

Just did mine last week.We broke my buddys snap on puller trying to do mine.Ended up cutting down the side with a cutoff wheel and then split it with an air chisel.Box is only three years old and must have been put back with an impact.

 

[Chiller]

get your self a new puller get a load on it and then start worming the the pitman arm. a little heat goes along way.

I was going to suggest this but i though the heat may harm the spindle

 

[FIRST_TIME_DIESEL]

Unfortunately i did that yesterday with no result. The pitman arm pullers avaliable around here (I cant find the OTC one anywhere) wont fit around the pitman arm, its too wide both at the base of the arm and the splined section. we ground down the inside of the puller a little bit and the sides of the pitman arm, but after re examining the puller, it seems that my buddy had to remove material to get the arms to fit around the splined section. Before it broke, when the second two armed puller was on it i heated the pitman arm for a while (couldnt come near it with a bare hand, but it wasnt glowing) and then hit it with a hammer after placing a wedge between the arm and the steering box as suggested by my neighbor and the ford master tech. This also yeilded nothing. I am seriously wondering if we are doing something wrong. I know my way around a shop and have plenty of experience with mechanics, plus not that it means much but i am a mechanical engineer. My buddy has worked for honda and chrysler as an assembler and a mechanic so were not really new to tools or cars but we are by no means masters at this stuff. Is there anything mechanically holding the pitman arm on to the splined shaft ofther than the single nut and washer? Thanks much, have a good one.

 

[FIRST_TIME_DIESEL]

Ok now I dont feel so bad lol. I'm at work right now, but i will keep you guys updated with the progress. Thanks for the help and advice!

 

[FIRST_TIME_DIESEL]

Ok so after renting and breaking another pitman arm puller from autozone we gave up and cut the darn thing. We first tried to cut a single relief and that didnt work. then we tried to cut a second close enough that it could deform and relieve some of the pressure, again nothing happened. We hacked at this thing for hours, even tried to cut the actual arm part off so a three arm could fit better. the main problem we were having with this was that with a cutting wheel we could only get close to the splines on the bottom of the arm, and not on the top. We ended up using an air chissel which worked pretty well. We took a big chunck of material out and used a grinder to get as close to the splines as possible without damaging them. After that, with almost no effort, the arm popped right off with a broken two arm puller. Thanks for all of the help and advice, i appreciate it

Here are some pics of the damage we did to this arm:

 

[1tonpower]

when all else falls get a huge hammer or starting cutting

 

[FIRST_TIME_DIESEL]

That was def the case here. The new one slipped right on and there was no damage to the splines which is good, but man we had to destroy that thing to get it off. At least its off and now the rest of the install can happen

 

[[email protected] Automotive]

Just did mine last week.We broke my buddys snap on puller trying to do mine.Ended up cutting down the side with a cutoff wheel and then split it with an air chisel.Box is only three years old and must have been put back with an impact.

this is exactly what i did.... went through 2 pullers and said F it! took out my angle grinder and went to town on it.. basically notching out a section almost down to the teeth... then just took a sledge to it and it came right off.....





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[FIRST_TIME_DIESEL]

In the end, i just wish i would have done this from the start. I mean we spent 4 good days trying to get this thing off (4-5 hours a night). Its all good, at least its off and we didnt break anything though. Not to be a jerk, but glad others have had the same problem, i was really starting to think we were forgetting something or doing something wrong (not that i wish this on others or anything, just good to know i wasnt alone).