[dtrojcak]

2002 F250 4x4 CC

Is there a trick to removing the pitman arm on the truck, or do you have to remove the gearbox first?

Also, when I attempt to remove the drag link from the pitman arm, the entire bolt spins when I try to loosen the castle nut.
Any tricks to help with that as well?

TIA

 

[Mongus]

I just did all this on my 02 F350 while doing a lift. Pitman arm, keep soaking it with a quality penetrating oil. I prefer Kroil . Get a real pitman arm puller. And take your time !


The shaft on the tie rod spinning, use a impact gun to overwhelm the spin.

 

[klhansen]

You need a pretty hefty puller to get the pitman arm off the steering gear box. You shouldn't have to remove the box.

On the drag link problem, get a C-clamp and force the drag link into the arm as if you were tightening the nut. I assume you got the cotter key out first. The hole in the arm is tapered as is the stud and should have been tight enough so that you could remove the nut, but yours is apparently loose in the hole. The C-clamp trick tightens it up enough so you can turn the nut without turning the stud. Usually the problem is getting the stud loose after you've removed or loosened the nut. Most use a pickle fork for that job.

 

[dtrojcak]

I just did all this on my 02 F350 while doing a lift. Pitman arm, keep soaking it with a quality penetrating oil. I prefer Kroil . Get a real pitman arm puller. And take your time !


The shaft on the tie rod spinning, use a impact gun to overwhelm the spin.

I'll try an impact gun, I didn't even think about that.
Regarding removing the arm from the gearbox, how do I even get a puller in there?
There's barely enough room for an open-end wrench to get the nut off, much less get a huge puller in there.

You need a pretty hefty puller to get the pitman arm off the steering gear box. You shouldn't have to remove the box.

On the drag link problem, get a C-clamp and force the drag link into the arm as if you were tightening the nut. I assume you got the cotter key out first. The hole in the arm is tapered as is the stud and should have been tight enough so that you could remove the nut, but yours is apparently loose in the hole. The C-clamp trick tightens it up enough so you can turn the nut without turning the stud. Usually the problem is getting the stud loose after you've removed or loosened the nut. Most use a pickle fork for that job.

If the impact gun suggestion doesn't work, I'll try the C-clamp method.
Yes, I removed the cotter first.
Yes, my drag link stud is loose in the pitman hole. This is the reason I'm replacing them.
There is significant play in this joint, I can move the steering wheel about 1-2" before the wheels move.

This isn't my picture, but I don't see how to get a puller in that small space to get the arm off of the gearbox.

 

[chuckster57]

There are pitman arm pullers, and once you lay eyes on one it will be obvious how it works. I've had mine for years, only used 2 or 3 times.

 

[klhansen]

The shop manual instructions say to remove the track bar frame bracket to get it out of the way of the pitman arm. That gives you enough room to get the puller on.

 

[dtrojcak]

Would this puller be strong enough for our trucks?

 

[chuckster57]

Looks the same as mine. Trick is lots of penetrating oil and then put some tension on the puller and tap the pitman arm with a hammer. Not like you trying to drive a nail, but not a love tap either. After tapping on the arm see if the puller will tighten up again. Repeat as needed.

 

[Unberlievable]

not that i know of

 

[Steve83]

Darth Vader, FTW.

 

[dtrojcak]

Looks the same as mine. Trick is lots of penetrating oil and then put some tension on the puller and tap the pitman arm with a hammer. Not like you trying to drive a nail, but not a love tap either. After tapping on the arm see if the puller will tighten up again. Repeat as needed.

The shop manual instructions say to remove the track bar frame bracket to get it out of the way of the pitman arm. That gives you enough room to get the puller on.

I just wanted to give an update for all who offered advise.

I removed the track bar bracket on the frame as suggested,
The actual track bar seemed to be in the way now, so I removed the bolt on the other end of the track bar.
That gave plenty of room to get the pitman puller in there.

The pitman arm actually came out easier than I expected.
I left the nut on the edge of the gearbox shaft while using the puller to avoid things flying off like I've read.
I let the impact tighten the puller as much as it could, then smacked the pitman arm with a hammer, attempt to tighten more, smack with hammer, and repeated a couple of times.
Nothing happened, so I stuck a breaker bar on the puller.
At about the point I was afraid to tighten any further, the arm simply slid off of the shaft, no pop, no sudden movement. It just slowly slid off.
A sigh of relief...
Next I removed the tie rods from each of the wheel ends with a pickle fork, then removed the entire assemble as one.
I then reattached the track bar, then adjusted the new tie rods and drag link to the approximate lengths of the ones I removed, and installed them onto truck.
Everything is back together as of now, but I ran out of daylight, so I'll need to torque everything down and perform a rough alignment tomorrow.
I'm on vacation the week after Thanksgiving, so I'll need to get it professionally aligned then.

Thanks to all who gave advice.
I figure I saved several hundred dollars in labor costs by doing this myself.

 

[chuckster57]

Good deal!! And thanks for the update.

 

[dtrojcak]

The only thing that concerned me is, the joint that goes into the driver's side knuckle went in past the hole for the cotter pin.
Instead of going thru the castle part, the cotter pin is above the entire nut.
I torqued all of them to 65, then a little more to line up the holes.
All of the others installed fine, just that one.
Should I install some washers to get the cotter pin to install correctly?

 

[Steve83]

Yes, washers should be OK. In any case, install a cotter pin to keep the nut from falling off.

 

[dtrojcak]

Yes, washers should be OK. In any case, install a cotter pin to keep the nut from falling off.

I installed the cotter pin, but it doesn't go thru the castle part of the nut. The nut can actually loosen about half a turn before it even touches the cotter pin.
It's not holding/touching the nut at all, but it will prevent the nut from falling off.
I'll try to remember to take a pic tomorrow, but I'll probably just end up getting a couple of washers to use as shims. One, maybe two, should move the nut far enough for the cotter pin to engage the castle nut.

 

[Steve83]

Other fixes include: bending the pin down into the castellations, or drilling a new hole through the stud.