Pitman arm to steering gearbox shaft

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TommyJ1980

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Hey guys- question for yalls, I’m replacing steering gearbox, and was going to replace the pitman arm as well but they sold me the wrong one, and the old one looks fine so I figured I’d reuse it. When I went to torque the pitman arm onto the shaft of the new gearbox, it went very reluctantly although greased, and I could only get it on barely halfway, and I guess the other space on that shaft is taken up by a rubber grommet or gasket type thing ? I reused the grommet/gasket from the old shaft and it looks ok now. Surprised the new (wrong) pitman arm didn’t come with said gasket, I guess we’re supposed to buy that separately, but if it wasn’t there half of the shaft would be sitting there exposed. Lastly, the old pitman arm grooves would only line up with the new gearbox at a slightly different angle than the arm did with the old box. Am I supposed to put the arm on at a certain rotation of the gearbox shaft? The instructions just said to line it up similarly. Pic below- the old arm was on the old gearbox at the same angle that I laid the pickle fork at. Thanks guys, hope to be driving tomorrow, picking up a new rag joint and steering shaft at 1pm tomorrow.
 

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TommyJ1980

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east302

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That install depth looks about right assuming that you torqued it to spec (184 ft-lbs for my 98).

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In your photo of the two gearboxes, the one on the left looks correct. You’d center the steering shaft (counting number of turns from stop to stop and leaving it at the midpoint). Going by memory since it’s been a couple of years, but I think that the photo below shows the midpoint - note the flat spot on the shaft with the pitman arm in the same line.

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TommyJ1980

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That install depth looks about right assuming that you torqued it to spec (184 ft-lbs for my 98).

You must be registered for see images attach


In your photo of the two gearboxes, the one on the left looks correct. You’d center the steering shaft (counting number of turns from stop to stop and leaving it at the midpoint). Going by memory since it’s been a couple of years, but I think that the photo below shows the midpoint - note the flat spot on the shaft with the pitman arm in the same line.

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Really appreciate it!!
 
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