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67 pitman arm

Fst Blk

Fst Blk

Well-Known Member
Is there a way to know it the pitman arm is worn. It has the ball stud. I'm about to spend a few dollars on frankensteining the stock pitman to a isuzu pitman arm. Just want to make sure this pitman is good to go before I spend money on it.

Bill
 
IMGP0011.jpg


This is what I need to do. I need the isuzu trooper steering box spline on a Mustang pitman. This pic shows the early 1 inch shaft where mine is the 1 1/8 shaft with the ball stud. I talked to a competent welder and he's going to do it. He works on heavy equipment welding cogs and gears, so he said this was easy.

Bill
 
Not sure I'd trust a weld. I'll check in the garage when it gets daylight ( I get up early).
 
"67 evil eleanor" said:
Not sure I'd trust a weld. I'll check in the garage when it gets daylight ( I get up early).
Click to expand...

Same thinking here.
Some parts aren't for welding due to safety issues.
Just my 0.02 eurocent
 
I agree that it isn't ideal. The only other option would be to remove the steering box shaft from the Isuzu box and have it resplined to fit the Mustang pitman arm, this is what Borgeson does. Or you could respline a Mustang pitman to fit the Isuzu shaft, not sure there's enough metal to do it though. I don't have access or knowledge to do either of these. The guy that's welding it does this type of work, so he said he would fatigue it after welding to eliminate any cracks. He seems to think his weld will be the stronger part.

Bill
 
I've read that pitman arms should be heat treated after they're heated and bent. So I think it would be a good idea to have it Magnafluxed and heat treated after welding.

Robert
 
Bill the one I have has a 1.22" shaft size. The number on the box is 8202-12-1R. I took it off a Isuzu Trooper, not sure what year. It has more angle than the one in the photo. If you think this one is close I'll get a photo.
 
"67 evil eleanor" said:
Bill the one I have has a 1.22" shaft size. The number on the box is 8202-12-1R. I took it off a Isuzu Trooper, not sure what year. It has more angle than the one in the photo. If you think this one is close I'll get a photo.
Click to expand...

What do you think about bending that pitman you have to the same angle as the Mustang pitman?

Bill
 
For my 67 i used a Aussie Ford ranger steering box and had the mustang pitman arm resplined cost $150 . My car is still left hand drive . The ranger steering box sits on the right hand side outer chassis rail over here so transferring it to the inside left worked a treat .
Tripower
 
"67 evil eleanor" said:
Bill the one I have has a 1.22" shaft size. The number on the box is 8202-12-1R. I took it off a Isuzu Trooper, not sure what year. It has more angle than the one in the photo. If you think this one is close I'll get a photo.
Click to expand...

Also, the pic shown was a 1 inch spline unit from a 65-early 67 pitman. Mine is like this one.

pitman_arm.jpg


Bill
 
Lock to lock with the spliced pitman arm

So, the guy cut the two. He v'ed the two pieces for more surface to weld to. He just tacked them together, so I can verify everything is good. So, I'm trying to verify it is clocked correctly. Once I set my wheels straight, I should have 2 turns to lock left and right correct? Any good tips on how to verify this is clocked correctly. I know it can only go on 4 ways, but it has been cut. What I'm trying to determine is it's correctly spliced back together.

Bill
 
If the Isuzu steering box's output shaft is in exactly the same place as the original Mustang steering box, then it shouldn't be too difficult to get the fab'd arm set up correctly.

Here's how I might approach it...

Turn the wheel full left, put a piece of masking tape on the steering wheel to establish full left, Then count the actual number of turns to full right, and put anouther piece of tape establising full right. Center will be halfway between those two points.

Return the wheel to exact center based on how many turns you counted. Lock the wheel at center somehow. Next center the center-link by measuring the tie rod mounting holes to the car's centerline. Also, adjust it vertically to make sure the tierod mounting points are also perfectly horizontal. Lock the center link into position.


Next, look at the angle of the idler arm relative to the centerline of the car. Your steering box's output shaft should mirror that angle. I would imagine that the idler arm's pivot to cernterlink mounting is paralell to the cars centerline, if angled then your pitman arm should share the same complimentary measurements as the idler arm.

Hopefully that makes sense... The bottom line is that the steering box / pitman arm's motion should emulate the idler arm. If the arcs are different, or on different planes, then the steering won't be equal on both sides (aside from akerman).

Something else to consider... If you have an original pitman arm, you might be able to fab up a fixture that the original fits, then replace it with the new halves for welding. This could work if the new box's output shaft is in the same place as the original steering box. If dramatically different, then you should re align the idler arm to match.
 
That makes sense. I've got everything loosely mocked up to check this and I think the slack in everything is causing me an issue. For instance, I've just got a small nail thru the carter pin hole on the tie rod ends connecting the spindles. I need to solidify my mock up. I, also, don't have the steering wheel and steering column in. Hard to do without a dash :)

With that being said, I did paint a mark on the input spline of the steering box. I had my FIL watch it while I turned the wheels at the rotor. It appears that I have 2 full turns from center lock to lock, but without everything fully secured I hate to say yeah it's right. The output of the new box does mimic the original.

Saturday I'll tie everything together snuggly and see how it looks.

BTW, anyone know the bolt size and length of the idler arm to frame bolts??

Bill
 
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