1963 Dodge Dart 270 Convertible for the Wife
Pulled the last greasy item to restore and knocked it out. The Harbor Freight pitman arm puller worked ok... the problem with all these HF tools is the threads are not hardened and they chew themselves up... add grease to help reduce the friction.... First manual box I have done... super easy... Pull the 3 bolts and the pitman arm shaft will pull out with the small cover. Break loose the giant lock ring at the steering coupler shaft and spin out the giant plug and the cross worm comes out... be careful with the caged bearings... mine where still caged and stayed together.
The seal are easy to get out and mine were hard as a rock and just crumbled. Now clean clean and clean some more. I got a reseal kit from Firm Feel a while ago so I was all set. A little time in the bead blaster (make sure you seal up the gears, bearing races, bushing so you don't ruin surfaces or get glass bead into the gears) and it is like new. Then clean some more.....
Pack the bearings and worm with grease and put in the cross worm gear and tighten down the big nut... you will want to clean the threads extremely well and make sure that the plug screws in by hand all the way before doing this. Never screw it in without lube... Aluminum to aluminum threads will eat each other without lube. Snug it down then put a piece of tape around the shaft and slide the new seal on. I used a deep socket to drive it home.
Slide the pitman shaft in and make sure the top adjusting screw is backed out so it is not binding the gears. If you stare at it long enough you will see how the rack and pinion gears are cut on a bevel so when you turn the top adjusting screw it picks the pitman shaft up and down engaging the gears tighter. Tighten the 3 screws. I put the seal on the pitman shaft in the housing before the shaft went in because I did not have a socket deep enough and large enough.
Slip on the new pitman arm and it is ready to get shot with clear coat before final install and final adjustment per the factory manual. Really easy except for the 60 year old grease to clean...
Pulled the last greasy item to restore and knocked it out. The Harbor Freight pitman arm puller worked ok... the problem with all these HF tools is the threads are not hardened and they chew themselves up... add grease to help reduce the friction.... First manual box I have done... super easy... Pull the 3 bolts and the pitman arm shaft will pull out with the small cover. Break loose the giant lock ring at the steering coupler shaft and spin out the giant plug and the cross worm comes out... be careful with the caged bearings... mine where still caged and stayed together.
The seal are easy to get out and mine were hard as a rock and just crumbled. Now clean clean and clean some more. I got a reseal kit from Firm Feel a while ago so I was all set. A little time in the bead blaster (make sure you seal up the gears, bearing races, bushing so you don't ruin surfaces or get glass bead into the gears) and it is like new. Then clean some more.....
Pack the bearings and worm with grease and put in the cross worm gear and tighten down the big nut... you will want to clean the threads extremely well and make sure that the plug screws in by hand all the way before doing this. Never screw it in without lube... Aluminum to aluminum threads will eat each other without lube. Snug it down then put a piece of tape around the shaft and slide the new seal on. I used a deep socket to drive it home.
Slide the pitman shaft in and make sure the top adjusting screw is backed out so it is not binding the gears. If you stare at it long enough you will see how the rack and pinion gears are cut on a bevel so when you turn the top adjusting screw it picks the pitman shaft up and down engaging the gears tighter. Tighten the 3 screws. I put the seal on the pitman shaft in the housing before the shaft went in because I did not have a socket deep enough and large enough.
Slip on the new pitman arm and it is ready to get shot with clear coat before final install and final adjustment per the factory manual. Really easy except for the 60 year old grease to clean...
