Pitman arm disconnected from center link

[71threequarterton]

Went to move my truck this morning, pulled out of my yard, into the street, turned the steering wheel and just kept going straight... No steering.

Steering worked last night when I backed the truck into my yard so some time between then and this morning the pitman arm came out of the center link.

The question is where the heck did the castle nut and cotter pin disappear to? They were/are nowhere to be found.

It doesn't look like the stud sheared off but I'm going to take a closer look at it tomorrow to make sure.

In either case: has anybody ever heard of the stud on the pitman arm shearing off or the castle nut and the cotter pin coming off on their own?

This is on my 94 GMC Yukon, by the way.