Steering Box

[Toads Patrol]

Steering link parts

steering link pitman arm side dissembled

pitman arm ball showing wear - more cosmetic than actual wear

The steering had a lot of play in it and the steering box is fine. I used the info in this thread to disassemble the steering arm and ball joints. The drag link side was in good shape and ball was rotated 90 deg. The Pittman had some wear, not bad as you can see. shimmed up the spring a bit for higher contact pressure and reassembled. Steering is MUCH IMPROVED. Highly recommended and fairly easy to do.

It is possible to rotate the pittman arm ball by grinding the weld off, rotate and re-weld. I do not recommend this procedure as the is a steering safety-critical part which should not be modified under any circumstance.

It is soon time for a road test with the new springs and adjusted steering repaired rear diff and othe items - here's hoping

[RiverPatrol]

Sometimes it is possible to locate a pitman rebuild kit. I haven't seen any for some time though.

Very nice info and pictures, thank you.

[krc65tan]

Sometimes it is possible to locate a pitman rebuild kit. I haven't seen any for some time though.

Very nice info and pictures, thank you.

In rebuilding my gearbox, I found out that the main bearings #'s crossed over to bearings that are the same in all dimensions except are 3mm smaller in diameter. I ended up machining collars to go around to outer races. Taking measurements of the pitman seal, I was able to find the correct seal that, oddly enough can be found as a cam seal for PT Cruiser or a crank seal for a 2012 Porsche!

[krc65tan]

Sometimes it is possible to locate a pitman rebuild kit. I haven't seen any for some time though.

Very nice info and pictures, thank you.

I did find original bearings but they were sitting on a parts shelf in Russia- local pickup only! Ha!