Power Steering Pitman arm question

[djmachinist]

I have a 1969 GMC that has been converted to power steering. I ordered a new PS box and pitman arm from Ecklers. The PS pitman arm that came on the truck was a cut and welded POS that the PO put on the truck. The Pump I ordered did not fit the pitman arm I ordered from the same supplier soooo... the shop that was installing the PS unit went to a local supply house and found a rebuilt PS box that did fit my new pitman arm. The steering was put back together without anymore problems except I also had to find a ragjoint that would match up to this PS box shaft because the old ragjoint had a different size spline.

The truck is on the road now and is driving pretty good, however the steering is a little nervous. I switched to a smaller steering wheel and that calmed down the twitchy steering somewhat, its not bad, however I know it is not completely right. The shop had it on the alignment rack three times cranking in more positive castor. I might add I replaced everything on the front suspension and steering. The front suspension and steering linkage is new and very tight.

My question is: Could I have got the manual Pitman arm by mistake which is why the pitman arm did not match up to the the PS box I originally purchased from ecklers? Is there a dimensional difference between the manual box Pitman arm and the PS Box Pitman arm? Is the Manual Pitman arm longer than the PS Pitman Arm? If it is, that might explain the nervous steering with the longer arm having more leverage.

Also, when I parking the truck and use full steering lock, the inside wheel seems to turn to far and scrubs to the point you can feel and here it drag. It only does this at full lock, you ease up just a little and its ok.

Any thoughts?

Dale

[long69]

i would guess that either you got the wrong arm or box the first time?( i'm by no means knowledgeable in this area at all) as far as the difference in arms goes ( again i'm no expert) they look to be the same size and shape. i think that the box shaft it connects to is a different size.
i'm still waiting to install all the parts that i have collected for the conversion. so i can't say for sure what the difference is. they sure look like they are the same but i'm sure they aren't.
your steering lock problem- does it happen on both side? if not maybe the box is not centered.
as far as the twitchy steering i would guess the box or tires, leaning towards the box if it didn't do it before.
hope this is of some help

[lolife99]

I would check with ECE. (Early Classic Enterprises).
They show three different arms.

67-68 manual $102.00
69-72 manual $74.00
69-72 power steering $78.62

I don't know much about Ecklers,... But ECE knows these trucks and can sell you both the box and the correct pitman arm.

Give them a shout.
http://www.earlyclassic.com/catalog.aspx

[djmachinist]

Long69and Lolife99,

Thanks for the info, I checked my old invoices last night, I lied, I bought the steering box from Earley and for some reason I got the Pitman arm from LMC about two weeks later. I did in fact order the manual Pitman arm from LMC which stated me down this road winding up with a bastard Steering box the Bumbara shop matched up at the local parts house. I also found out the PS steering box that is in the truck is out of a camaro. Perhaps the Camaro Box has more throw than the truck box which would explain the overturning problem.

Dale