Need suggestions for stubborn drag link socket at Pitman arm

[AZ_Adventure_Clicks]

I've tried three different pickle forks from O'Reilly's and one of those ball joint no impact removers... I've tried putting tension on it and whacking it at the side of the pitman arm. It does not want to budge.
Open to suggestions, or maybe there's a specific size pickle fork for this beast?

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[fourfa]

Oh god, been there. Mine was just about welded in place. Nothing I could do under the truck worked. Hammers, forks, heat, blowtorch, nothing. I had to pull the Pitman arm (Lisle 41970 HD puller), clamp it in a very large vise, and absolutely batter the drag link out with a heavy sledge before it finally popped. Whatever they do at the factory, in my case it was never going to release on the vehicle.

I was injured somewhat when the pitman arm released, too. Watch carefully where your fingers and thumbs go - nowhere near the path of travel. When it pops off the sector shaft it will come at mach 10

 

[AZ_Adventure_Clicks]

Oh god, been there. Mine was just about welded in place. Nothing I could do under the truck worked. Hammers, forks, heat, blowtorch, nothing. I had to pull the Pitman arm (Lisle 41970 HD puller), clamp it in a very large vise, and absolutely batter the drag link out with a heavy sledge before it finally popped. Whatever they do at the factory, in my case it was never going to release on the vehicle.

I was injured somewhat when the pitman arm released, too. Watch carefully where your fingers and thumbs go - nowhere near the path of travel. When it pops off the sector shaft it will come at mach 10

Thanks for the heads up!

 

[Rusty PW]

Don't remove the nut. Leave it on a few threads. This is for when the arm decides it no longer wants to be on the shaft and lets go with a bang. The nut will keep it from flying off and doing damage to your fingers.

 

[Sweetums]

If nothing works and a torch isn't doing the job, the only thing left is to buy a new pitman arm. Fortunately they are relatively cheap.

Use a cutoff wheel to cut almost all the way through, but don't hit the spline. Then use a chisel to break the last little bit so it will come off. When you put the new one on, make sure there's a thin layer of anti-seize on the spline.

 

[AZ_Adventure_Clicks]

Good to know. Hopefully tomorrow will bring better luck.

 

[Vtur]

I've been using the one below from Harbor Freight to separated my draglink, tie rod and ball joints on multiple vehicles with it. Tight it down some then LIGHTLY hit the bolt head with a 2lb hammer a few times, then tight it down a little more then hit it again. Do that cycles a few times and it should pop loose.

 

[KrashEd]

I have a lift on mine and since there's an angle on the tie rod, I typically remove the drag link axle end and get the drag link parallel with the pitman arm. Usually after that it just takes a few solid whacks with a couple of hammers on the pitman and the tie rod drops out. As folks have stated, I leave the nut on a couple of threads so it doesn't take me out when it drops. That definitely is the worst tie rod, but I haven't had to use a pickle fork in years. Maybe just lucky.

 

[Rusty PW]

I use an air chisel with a pickle fork attachment. The pressure from it and the vibrations usually does it. Plus it pisses the neighbors off too from the noise.

 

[fourfa]

FWIW I bent a couple of those HF ball joint separators trying to get my bastard joint off. If you’re breaking tools, stop and just remove the pitman arm before any real damage occurs (to you, the steering gear, etc). The cutoff wheel and chisel is probably the safest way. Hopefully yours ain’t like mine

 

[ericw.]

I've been using the one below from Harbor Freight to separated my draglink, tie rod and ball joints on multiple vehicles with it. Tight it down some then LIGHTLY hit the bolt head with a 2lb hammer a few times, then tight it down a little more then hit it again. Do that cycles a few times and it should pop loose.

I use this too but my process is just to let the impact do all the work. No hammer needed. Doesn't usually damage the boot like a pickle fork will.

 

[AZ_Adventure_Clicks]

A good overnight soak with PB blaster and a hail Mary whack with the 5lb sledge finally did it. The pop was actually anticlimactic. I was expecting a big bang and it just dropped out almost quietly.
Makes me want to put it back in super tight and try it again.

This time I had disconnected both sway bar links. probably helped relieve tension on it.

 

[DanJT]

If nothing works and a torch isn't doing the job, the only thing left is to buy a new pitman arm. Fortunately they are relatively cheap.

Use a cutoff wheel to cut almost all the way through, but don't hit the spline. Then use a chisel to break the last little bit so it will come off. When you put the new one on, make sure there's a thin layer of anti-seize on the spline.

I had to cut the pitman arm nut off, I don't want to see what it's going to take to get the PA off.

 

[Vtur]

I use this too but my process is just to let the impact do all the work. No hammer needed. Doesn't usually damage the boot like a pickle fork will.

Yup. Not damaging the boots is awesome. I like the hammer technique to avoid damaging the thread. But whatever works

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