I am in the process of freshening up everything on my 1979 rx7, but This pitman arm is giving me hell! I got the old one off the box without a problem and found a replacement Centric brand one on rock auto and it fit but it didn't slide on the spline nearly as far as original so I attempted to push it the rest of the was on with the nut and striped out the treads (terrible idea I know) luckely I had a spare box with a good shaft, so I replaced that and ordered another arm Rare Parts brand or somthing like that and it still stoped very low on the spline compare to the one I took off! anyone else have this problem?because I just can't seem to find any other arms Original arm
New arm

 

Am I the only one who had trouble with this? This is the only thing stoping me from getting my front end back together.

 

Didn't have the issue when I replaced mine. Stupid question but could it be on backward?

Herb

 

No, it's a tapered shaft and the spline only gose on one way, what brand arm did you use for replacement?

 

Interestingly enough, I have recently purchased the same one. I tried it this weekend on the steering gear I need to replace, and it stops short compared to where the stock arm seated on the sector shaft by about as much as yours did. I painted mine before installing, but before that I inspected it to make sure it was the same as the one I was replacing, and saw no inconsistencies between the two.

Unfortunately, I have to replace my steering gear and am in the market for a replacement, which means you will have an opportunity to figure this out before I do.

 

I am having similar issues with the pitman arm on my '95 GSL. I used the puller tool to take the old one off and it worked like a charm. I've been tightening the new one on with a 250 lb-ft torque wrench and it looks like its only about 1/2 of the way on the splines. It's set to about 150 lb ft but I am applying more torque than that (it clicks every time I push)

I'm glad for the picture you posted of the original arm, I didn't note how far up the splines my original arm was, and I see now that it doesn't have to cover them completely. I'm certain I still need to torque it down more but I don't want to break anything. I decided that maybe the lock washer was making it hard for me to tighten down the arm, and I should go to the hardware store and get a flat washer to use just for pushing the arm on, then replace it with the lock washer. Maybe that will help?

What is the torque spec for the pitman arm nut? I can't seem to find it anywhere.

 

I'm here to answer my own question. Apparently its 120 lb-ft? This has me worried as I've been applying 200 lbft at least to the nut and the arm isn't on all the way.

Surely someone out there must have replaced their pitman arm successfully. How much torque is it supposed to take to get the pitman arm onto the sector shaft? I don't want to break anything. Am I missing a step?

 

I know you have a 1979, but the 1980, 1984, and 1985 manuals all list 108-130 lb-ft. This can be found in the FSM.

 

 

Thanks for persisting here Nathan!!! good to know we need to be picky...

Stu Aull
80GS
AK>AZ

 

The last one I replaced also fell short of the original's seated position slightly as well. It gave me no issues aligning it and the car drove fine afterwards. Just food for thought,

 

 

It's simple math really, quality costs money. The more precise you are, the more expensive it will be to manufacture it. Problem is, quality is often sacrificed anymore (or relaxed) to make things more affordable for the customer and / or more profitable for the manufacturer. There are probably only a few actual manufacturers of the part, which several auto part suppliers all negotiate to buy from. It's a smaller world than most people realize.

 

I agree with this, as I've often thought that there can't be an outrageous number of manufacturers of the same part. When you look at RockAuto for this part for example, you get a few options. Go to any local store and they'll have private labels on their own boxes of the same part. But the company doesn't manufacture parts, they just sell them. If that makes any sense...

 

I wonder if its an SA thing, we have so many other weird issues with obscure fitment of parts like the threads on brake lines, clutch lines, etc.

I didn't replace mine when I refurbed all the other parts in my steering because it looked good and was nice and tight. Kind of glad I didn't do it yet. Now I know what to expect.

 

After digging around I am not finding any catalog differences for the pitman between the SA and FB. That said, It seems that Centric #62045505 which is available almost everywhere is the same as O'Reilly's MasterPro K9142. At least the associated image looks the same. It also shares a similar price to Centric. However, Rare Parts #20512 looks to have a smoother casting and more quality behind it. It definitely seems to be cast and forged from different molds than Centric. Anyone tried the Rare Parts pitman arm?

 

Casting is a process where molten metal is poured into a mold to cool and solidify. The advantages to this process is lighter weight and less machining than say a solid chunk of material. It's a good process for an engine block or rotor housing, but not for parts that are subject to high stress or loads.

Forging is done by heating up a solid piece of material and pounding it to shape with a die in a hammer forge. It compresses the molecular structure of the metal and make it extremely tough and durable. This is how the pitman arm blank is made. The seam you see on the side is not a parting line from a mold, but what is left after the blank was trimmed. When hammered, excess material is squeezed out between the top and bottom die cavity's After forming, the parts are placed in a trim die to cut this excess off, leaving a seam around the middle of the part.

From here, the blanks are machined which is what determines how it fits on the shaft. Although possible, I'm not sure that in an aftermarket situation, who ever machines the arms also has a forging capability. Large corporations like General Motors have enough resources to own and operate foundries and forge shops along side machine shops and weld / sheet metal fabrication but even GM have over time, outsourced this type of work to outside or overseas companies who provide it cheaper.

I guess my point is, aftermarket forgings can also come from more than a single source and would look different since they were made from different die's. They could also be sold to more than one manufacturer who performs the actual machining. So the "look" of the forging isn't necessarily a guarantee of how its machined. I will say that normally, Joe's machine shop would tend to purchase it forging blanks from the same source due to having a business relationship and / or geographic location. If Joe makes a good part, they would probably also consistently look the same. The trick is finding out, who is buying from Joe and stocking their warehouse.

 

 

the bushings? My concern is the age and mileage on my pitman. Why replace the entire steering linkage system and leave the main connection point untouched?