Squeaky Pitman Arm Fixed
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Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 479
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From: Tallahassee, FL
Squeaky Pitman Arm Fixed
Hi guys,
just thought I would drop post to thank the people for diagnosis on the squeaky pitman arm.
Instead of using the needle fitting/grease gun method, I decided to tackle the job of replacing the pitman arm myself. A local and reliable shop quoted me 190+tax which was better than the Ford dealer but considering that the part is $43 I decided to do it myself.
You will need the following parts: A pitman arm puller, pitman arm seperation tool, a 1 5/16" box end wrench, 200lb-ft capable torque wrench, a 1 5/16" socket, a new pitman arm (Moog #k8700 for the 97 4x4). I rented the puller, seperation tool, and torque wrench at my local autozone. Actually they are loaners as you get all your money back when you return them.
My service manual didn't say anything about pulling the steering gear box (written for 4x2) but the cross-member on the 4x4 models blocked the puller from fitting easily on the pitman arm to pull it. So you will need to unbolt the three bolts holding the steering gear box to the frame. The job was not too bad at all. If I had the 1 5/16" wrench total time would've taken me about 1 hour 15 minutes. Took me longer to drive around tallahassee looking for the odd sized wrench than it did to do the job. Ended up getting it at sears. The new pitman arm comes with a grease fitting so you don't have to replace it again. Also the idler arm has two grease fittings on it that have never been greased so I shot some grease into those as well.
Anyways, if you have any questions about the job, let me know.
- Jay
just thought I would drop post to thank the people for diagnosis on the squeaky pitman arm.
Instead of using the needle fitting/grease gun method, I decided to tackle the job of replacing the pitman arm myself. A local and reliable shop quoted me 190+tax which was better than the Ford dealer but considering that the part is $43 I decided to do it myself.
You will need the following parts: A pitman arm puller, pitman arm seperation tool, a 1 5/16" box end wrench, 200lb-ft capable torque wrench, a 1 5/16" socket, a new pitman arm (Moog #k8700 for the 97 4x4). I rented the puller, seperation tool, and torque wrench at my local autozone. Actually they are loaners as you get all your money back when you return them.
My service manual didn't say anything about pulling the steering gear box (written for 4x2) but the cross-member on the 4x4 models blocked the puller from fitting easily on the pitman arm to pull it. So you will need to unbolt the three bolts holding the steering gear box to the frame. The job was not too bad at all. If I had the 1 5/16" wrench total time would've taken me about 1 hour 15 minutes. Took me longer to drive around tallahassee looking for the odd sized wrench than it did to do the job. Ended up getting it at sears. The new pitman arm comes with a grease fitting so you don't have to replace it again. Also the idler arm has two grease fittings on it that have never been greased so I shot some grease into those as well.
Anyways, if you have any questions about the job, let me know.
- Jay
Last edited by f150intally; Jan 13, 2003 at 11:15 AM.
