Stuck Pitman arm

[bigdaveb12]

Hello everyone, new to the site. I usually work on / restore VW's, but I got my first Ford truck last week. It's a '67 F-100 Camper Special 4x2 automatic. The issue I'm having is that my pitman arm is stuck to the Bendix box and the drag link like gorrilla snot. I even put a porta-power to it and got nothing on both ends. I'm trying to remove the PS box in order to rebuild it since it leaks like crazy. I took apart a steering box for a '56 VW Oval ragtop Bug I'm restoring and didn't have near this trouble. Does anybody have any tips/tricks on how to remove the pitman arm while keeping the body count low.

[68F250]

Hi! Welcome to the site!

What I did was use a pitman arm puller and tightened it up real tight and then started wacking the bolt on the puller. After a couple of hits the pitman arm exploded off the steering box. Be careful, the flying parts can break your arm!

[dcbullet]

It's amazing how tight things can get after many years. I remember I could not for the life of me get a 240Z tie rod end out using a pickle fork I had. I eventually gave up and took it to a shop. The thing is I had buggered up the threads so I drove to the shop with no nut on the tie rod end bolt.

Yeah, that was dumb, but it held as I thought it would.

[Jake11]

BE VERY CAREFULL! When it comes loose it can hurt you.
A little heat from a torch will help. If it were me, I would heat the arm a little, where it goes around the shaft. Just to expand it. Leaving the puller
on it with some tension on it. I've almost busted my fingers when the arm comes loose. Stay safe. Do not rest your hand on the puller.

[Billybobjunky]

They are very right. It scared me almost to death the first time I had to use a puller. I cranked on it as much as I though I possibly could, crawled out from under the truck and started resting. All of a sudden BANG-CRASH-BAM! It came loose on its own just from the constant tension. Almost killed right over...

[bigdaveb12]

Thanks for the help guys. I went to Autozone and used a loaner pitman puller and it took me all of 30 seconds to remove the arm. There nothing like the right tool for the job.