I've finally gotten around to replacing the worn out steering box on my old wagon and I've found something puzzling. The pitman arm (drop arm off the box) has a different bend in it than the replacement unit. The arm off the car is also different from the existing idler arm.

The pitman arm and idler arm should match, shouldn't they?

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Carter

In case someone else runs into this...

I determined that at some point my '71 wagon got a steering box and pitman arm that was apparently off of a '73 or '74. The newer arms had less of a bend and a steeper drop. The pitman arm and idler arm should infact match.

I replaced the steering box and pitman arm with the correct ones. Also replaced the tie rod ends since i had to reset the toe-in (eye-balled for now, I'll set it correctly this weekend). With the old, incorrect arm, the tierods ends were jam up against the tie rod leaving no room for further adjustment. Plenty of room for adjustment now.

The pitman arms are on very tight. I took them to a machine shop where they were able to pull them with out much effort and without damaging the box.

Steering vastly improved now. It's on to the rear suspension! Whoopeeee!!!!
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Carter

If the boxes are the same use your old pittman and idler arms - that way you'll
know they fit. Any idea what car the new box came off of?
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George Downs Bartlesville, Heart of the USA!

George,
Sorry to hi-jack this thread but I saw an earlier post of yours where you had a M40 top cover (short one) tapped for a M41 overdrive lockout switch. If you are interested in selling it please email me at r_lazarSPAM@pacbell.net please remove the word spam.

Thanks,

Richard.

I'm not sure what the box came off of. We had a time finding a box in good shape with the right size steering/tie rod end holes (the later models with b20s apparently had larger holes). I was just suprised at the difference.

You are right though, the old idler and pitman arms was working fine so I should just stay with that.
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Carter