'71 C10 pitman arm question

Hey Everyone,

I have a 1971 Cheyenne Super, and I'm having to replace the steering gear due to excessive road-walk. It looks like a pretty strightforward project, and I'm already to the step of pulling off the pitman arm. I've got two questions though.

  1. After I have removed the pitman arm retaining nut and washer and am about to pull the pitman arm off the steering gear shaft, do I need to loosen the nut on the other end of the pitman arm, the one that holds the pitman arm to the steering linkage? Or is there enough play to leave that tight?

  1. As far as I can see, there is only a pinch bolt holding the steering shaft coupling to the steering gear, correct? Just take the pinch bolt out, and the steering gear should slide out of the steering shaft?

TIA for any replies.

Curtis

Reply to
charrell
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Just my thought here, your going to all the trouble of replacing a gear box replace the pitman arm too. As for removing the gear box, separate the pitman arm from the center link with a pickle fork, before using the puller to remove the arm from the pitman shaft. Did you try adjusting the gear box before deciding to replace it?

Whitelightning

Reply to
Whitelightning

I tried adjusting the gear box, but it seems the previous owner had the same idea. The adjusting screw pretty much doesn't do anything anymore.

I'm curious why the pitman arm would need replacing. I realize it's not that expensive, and, if it is necessary to loosen the pitman arm from the center link anyway, the replacement would be easy, but could some of the slop show up there too?

Thanks,

Curtis

Reply to
charrell

After I sent that last message, I realized that I might not be adjusting the steering gear properly. If there is excessive play in the column, how should I adjust the steering gear to take the play out?

TIA,

Curtis

Reply to
charrell

You have a 1971 Chevy truck (one of the best looking years in my very not humble opinion lol). Unless you have changed this part, its of unknown age and quality. GM has always been hard on idler arms and pitman arms, and the wear specs GM allows are huge, and while the amount of play allowed is with in safety parameters, the toe can shift like a yoyo, affecting tire wear and handling. It would have to be to the point of falling apart to cause excessive road wonder though. What shape are the A-arm bushings in? My 70 C-10 short bed had bronze bushings, and when they got sloppy it wondered all over the place, but they also got noisy.(another one I kick myself regularly for getting rid of, but I was on FT Hood and the rage was 4X4s, so I traded it for Jeep J-20, great axles, massive frame, best transfer case ever in my opinion, the quadra-trac, so ugly it was good looking, lousy lousy engine, horrible electrical system almost as bad as british cars, not as bad as the french and italians though) As for parts choice, Moog, Moog, and then Moog. especially for idler arms and pitman arms.

Whitelightning

Reply to
Whitelightning

Thanks very much for your response!

The pitman arm seems really solid, but I'll take another look at the A-arm bushings. Another thing that happened before I bought it is the wheel bearing seized on the passenger side and the previous owner replaced the spindle. In addition to the current wandering around the road, the truck seems to dip down a bit on a hard right turn. I was suspecting the left spindle, but now I'll look at the A-arm bushings! The truck has also had a recent alignment.

Thanks again,

Curtis

P.S. I've always been told to tighten the adjusting nut on the steering gear only slightly clockwise to tighten the steering. Is this correct?

Reply to
charrell

Ok I'll give you the old school way to check it. You wrap twine around the base of the steering wheel,at least 8-10 turns. You hook a spring gauge/scale to the twin and steady pull, after the initial reading to over come getting it turning the reading should be between 1 and 6 pounds. This is with the front wheels off the ground, and the engine off. The vehicle should be supported as close to the ball joints as possible. So says Glens Service Manuals and my old (as in blow an inch of dust off lol) Mitchell's Motor Manuals. (Wonders how many remember Glen's Service manuals?) Another way is to use an inch pound "bar style" torque wrench on the steering wheel retaining nut, but I find that method harder to do as you have a limited amount you can turn it with steady pressure and read the gauge on the wrench.

Whitelightning

Reply to
Whitelightning

Old age is getting to me. Before you can adjust the sector shaft, or pitman shaft you should adjust the worm shaft preload(that's the shaft the steering column connects to) You have to back the sector shaft adjustment off, the recommendation is pitman arm disconnected from the steering linkage. Use an inch pound torque wrench and measure the amount of torque it takes to turn through the "highpoint" for one full revolution(the twine and spring gauge will work as well) The reading should be 1/2 to 2 pounds. to adjust this you loosen the large locking nut around where the steering column connects and using a pair of inside lock ring pliers turn the "plug" loosening or tightening in very small increments until in spec. Tighten the lock nut, recheck . then center the gear box on the "highpoint" and tighten the sector shaft until you get 3-6 pounds more to rotate the steering shaft(it was 1-6 for manual gear boxes, my mistake). I should have blown the dust off and refreshed my memory. The Mitchell says the box should be removed to do these adjustments, but we used to do them on the car all the time. If you have ever tried to remove a gear box on an old Lincoln you would under stand real fast why lol. A little loose which is what could happen doing it on the vehicle is much prefered to over tightned. Which brings me to the next thought that blew through the cob webs. If you think the previous owner over tighened the sector shaft adjustment and drove it that way, then replace the gear box.

Whitelightning

Reply to
Whitelightning

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