Pitman Arm Install

[pdxrealtor]

Anyone else notice that the MOOG pitman arm does not go onto the steering box shaft all the way?

Mine is about 3/8" from the rubber seal on the steering box.

I did some searching and a lot of people with Dodge/GMC/Chevy seem to say it's normal and not to worry about it.

But I'm OCD.... need some re-assurance from my fellow Hummer owners who have done this replacement.

[pdxrealtor]

No one??

[[__--MUD--__]]

I've gone through 2 moogs, mine have always seated fully. Never heard of this issue.

[pdxrealtor]

Not what I wanted to hear...

I went at mine for a long time with a 230 ft'/lb impact gun and that sucker aint going on any farther. The splines are lined up and the bolt protrudes from the nut quite a bit.



I guess I'll have the alignment shop double check it.

[[__--MUD--__]]

**** it, heat it up w/ a torch at tad bit to expand and fully seat.

[pdxrealtor]

From the Google research I did there have been several who have tried everything from heat to taking out the steering box and pressing it on only to not have the arm budge and ruin the steering box.

One thing I did notice was that the Cognito support kit lined up nicely.

If the arm was that much out of whack wouldn't it have caused problems down the install? Like when installing hardware to the center link?

[[__--MUD--__]]

Only thing I can think of is there could be a difference in the taper on the shaft of the steering box for certain years. Made it sligltly larger. Would have to look at the parts book to see if that shaft part number changed at all through out the years.

Your only talking 3/8". Center link is held by both the arms, it will bolt together no matter what the height of the arm is. Height difference is either going to pull the wheel in or out slightly on that side. It would be corrected by the tierod adjustment at alignment.

Pretty sure my centerlink is dead nuts level, I can check next week when I go back out to the shop. Stick a bubble on yours see where its at.

The alignment shops deals w/ this **** every day. I'm sure they will know right away whats up. I wouldn't sweat it.

Freight company called today and said my custom steering setup is scheduled for delivery friday Fingers crossed those guys built the **** exactly as I specified

[[__--MUD--__]]

Just though of somethign...measure the thickness of the old arm and the Moog. Maybe the Moog is just a little thinner and it is fully seated.

[pdxrealtor]

Originally Posted by [__--MUD--__]

Just though of somethign...measure the thickness of the old arm and the Moog. Maybe the Moog is just a little thinner and it is fully seated.

THX for the suggestion on the level, I'll do that.

Wouldn't the truck need to be level on the jack stands for the level on the center link to read accurate? No biggie as I can level out the truck with the jack.

Brings up another thought. I believe I'd need to have both hubs installed and knuckles bolted up to joints as well.

LOL.... you know what? I held the OEM arm up to the MOOG and eyed it. While 3/8" is obvious on the gear shaft it might not be so obvious when holding it up to an installed arm. I will MIC them and see.

It was dark outside when I separated the OEM arm with a pickle fork through the front of the truck. I swear that thing was fully seated. I swear with a couple whacks it separated. Because it was dark, and the beer was really kicking in, I stopped in an attempt to not damage the splines. I was thinking heck yes this thing is going to pop right off, due to how easy it separated with the pickle fork.

I spent over 3 hours the next day getting that darn arm off. A lot of the time spent was just learning the technique. Taking the box off the frame. Positioning the box for the puller. Getting the puller on the arm, etc....

When I finally did get puller on the arm my impact gun would not bust it off. I must have spent a combined 20 minutes with my finger on the trigger. Oh how easy it is to forget about good old muscle when you have the almighty power tool in your hand.

I was able to get a ratchet and breaker bar on that puller, with the box off the frame and positioned forward, and somehow get the leverage with my feet on the frame to pop the old arm off.

The point of explaining this is, even if the arm was seated fully before the pickle fork un-seating it didn't knock it loose. Not even close. We're talking feet on the frame 1/4" ratchet turns using all my strength type sh*t.

When I started the efforts of getting the puller on I had no choice but to stare at the bottom of that arm and where it was positioned on the shaft. There was just enough lip on the arm to feel it rubbing your finger across the arm and gear box spline.

That's exactly how the new arm is installed. The bottom of the arm has a very small lip as the splines on the steering box don't fully protrude through the bottom of the MOOG arm.

I really wish ( and could have solved a lot of my questions ) that I would have waited until it was light out and paid attention to every aspect of that OEM arm before I pickle forked it. For all I know I didn't do shi*t with the pickle fork.

[[__--MUD--__]]

You know one thing that I have started doing over the last year is taking detailed pics of **** before I take it apart. Mechanical, electrical, what ever- having those as a reference has saved my ass number of times on **** I over looked.

[pdxrealtor]

Great idea. In my case I had the driver side and vice versa during the install on all but the idler pitman. Sometimes I'm too involved to whip out the cam but I should.

I did put a level on it and it's pegged left! Right side truck is low. Tried jacking up and it's too far low to get the frame level.

Put it on the centerlink and it doesn't seem as pegged as when on the frame. But how accurate is that? Lol.

The old pitman is in the garbage. Barried under broken beer bottles and grease rags. Not digging it out to mic it. Especially since I installed the new UCA and the boot has a pin hole in it. Frustrated as hell.

I will however level it out and bubble it. As I'm curious