Pitman arm not seated all the way?

[USCGC130]

Hey all, we’ll I searched google and the forum and couldn’t find an answer, but I just finished getting a 6” skyjacker kit installed and it seems their extreme drop pitman arm only seats maybe 3/4 of the way or less onto the steering spline, i torqued it to 210 ft lbs and tried hammering it on further but this is as fast as it will go no, i even removed it again and removed the paint front the inside with a wire brush and cleaned and lubed the splines. Is this normal or good to go?

if not what else could I do to get it on a little further?

 

[adsm08]

I'm not familiar with the Skyjacker arm in particular, but because the shaft is coned it won't go all the way to the box. There has to be enough gap to get a puller in.

I think the factory ones end up sitting about flush at the end, but if it won't go any farther forcing it will only damage things.

If nobody with specific knowledge of the SJ arm chimes in I'd call their customer support line and ask. It may have been reamed improperly.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Its been a long time since I looked at the spines on one. Is there a missing spline groove or a wide spot that is to make sure the arm only goes on in the correct orientation?

 

[USCGC130]

I don’t think so, the steering all seems lined up, it was straight when I pulled it in the garage and in the locked position, then I just replaced the arms, but I didn’t verify if the arm has and one specific key. I wouldn’t think it would even make it on this far if it was miss aligned.

 

[adsm08]

The box, and hopefully the arm, has three wider splines used for clocking of the arm.

If it were mis-aligned it should not have made it on that far. Since it is a tapered shaft I usually don't pay too much attention to how far it went on, and when the impact gun stops I call it good. However I am usually dealing with OEM parts and don't have to worry much about manufacturing defects or errors. In this case I'd be concerned about the total area of the contact surface. A dropped pitman arm usually means a lift. A lift usually means bigger tires. Bigger tires means more force to turn the wheels. That all adds up to a stripped pitman arm if there isn't enough contact surface.

 

[4x4junkie]

I have seen aftermarket arms (including Skyjacker) not go on quite as far up the spline as the OEM arm, but not to the degree that is depicted here (that looks like maybe a 1/2" gap between the box itself and the arm). I agree, with that much spline showing, the chances of it stripping or even the sector shaft fatiguing (and breaking) seems high.

I'd see about getting another arm. I don't have a SJ arm (or truck with one) handy at this moment, but the Rancho arm I put on my Ranger many many years ago has almost exactly 3/8" gap between the box and arm, and is about typical of what I've seen with most aftermarket arms.

There should be four index splines, meaning it would be possible to install the arm onto the shaft 90° off, though it would be quite blatantly obvious that something is wrong if this were the case.

 

[bobbywalter]

that looks fairly normal to me for those. check it every 50 miles for 200 .... then periodically. i have broke the sector shafts before and suspected it was the aftermarket arm one time....the others later were oem applications so it is what it is.

 

[USCGC130]

Thanks for the replies, I sent skyjacker an email and am waiting for a response back, we will see if they want me to forward the pictures or not but I will post back with the response when they get me a final answer, hopefully if someone else has this question this thread can help

 

[USCGC130]

So after a 2+ months of fighting with skyjacker i finally got them to send me another pitman arm to at least try.. well it was the exact same issue so ill be sending the new one back to them. i could see where it seemed to be contacting first on the splines and decided to very carfully dremel the spline edged down a hair to hopefully get it go to on a bit more, and i think it work a little bit, its not perfect but i do feel its better. I am paranoid about the nut backing off ( which actually just happened to a buddy of mine on his big dodge) so i kept the big ol lock washer, added lock tight to it and drilled a hole and in aviation fashion gave it a good bit of safety wire to keep it from ever backing off. Its not perfect and still isnt 100% seated but i think its my best option for now.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Nice job on the safety wire. Do you have the pliers for that?

 

[USCGC130]

Nice job on the safety wire. Do you have the pliers for that?

Thanks, no i dont, i have used them but since im an aircraft mechanic i have spent hours and hours of my life wiring the most inconvenient things lol, so im just well practiced!

 

[4x4junkie]

Did you remove all the paint (powdercoat) from inside the spline? (Skyjacker has been bad about painting inside the splines in the past) If so, there shouldn't be much chance of the nut backing off, provided it's torqued properly (~250 ft-lbs IIRC).

It not being on far enough would have me more concerned about the sector shaft shearing off, since the arm isn't up as high up on the spline where the diameter is bigger (I recall a 3/8" gap between the arm and the box is about normal for these arms, it's a little hard to see this in your new pics).

 

[Josh B]

I'd try to tighten it further after every few bumps for a while, maybe it'll seat farther in after it gets a few good ones

 

[USCGC130]

Did you remove all the paint (powdercoat) from inside the spline? (Skyjacker has been bad about painting inside the splines in the past) If so, there shouldn't be much chance of the nut backing off, provided it's torqued properly (~250 ft-lbs IIRC).

It not being on far enough would have me more concerned about the sector shaft shearing off, since the arm isn't up as high up on the spline where the diameter is bigger (I recall a 3/8" gap between the arm and the box is about normal for these arms, it's a little hard to see this in your new pics).

I sure did, i took a wire brush to it and then some acetone and another wire brush and got every little bit i could out of there, but you are right it was pretty loaded with powdercoat, and i torqued mine to 215 FTLB i think thats what it called for. also ill go measure the gap this morning when i get back out to the garage, i alsoo have to bear inmind that i need enough room to make sure i can get a puller back in there becasue ive tried a few pullers but only one i have found to get around that big ol arm and it has fairly thick teeth that fit arounf the top to do the pulling.

but i agree with you i am fearful that the all the load will be on the thinner part of the shaft creating a much weaker shear point.

I'd try to tighten it further after every few bumps for a while, maybe it'll seat farther in after it gets a few good ones

thats a good call, i was going to mark the nut with paint pen to see if it had ever moved but i think ill wait until just before i go to baja to do that and ill re check the torque after a good wheeling trip or 2. that way if it does move i dont have more than one line on there to confuse it with.

ill report back here if anything go awry

 

[Dirtman]

Did you try cursing at it?