Dead in the water. Manual steering pitman arm

[bodied91ranger]

So I decided to 86 the electric power steering pump on the ranger. I went with a reman manual steering gear. More compact. Less angle on my steering linkage. It all seemed great. Until I tried to locate a pitman arm. The power steering arm doesn’t fit the manual box. I have had my truck in jackstands for three weeks now. Searching for an arm. I’ve ordered three so far none of them work. I am really hoping someone on the forum has an old parts truck with a manual box that would be willing to sell to me. Four years working on the bodied ranger and im literally finished. And now this.

anyone out there able to help? Pitman arm needs to be only from manual steering truck. And it’s pretty flat with no drop.

 

[Josh B]

That's tough dude. Have you checked local FB and other sites that have personal sales posts maybe? Best I can think of man, if there's no other options

 

[sgtsandman]

No luck with the local salvage yards or car-part.com?

 

[rusty ol ranger]

I think manual steering was very rare even on the early ones.

Youll have to find a base of the base, 2.0l, 2wd, probably white bodied, red vinyl seated thing you can find for any hope of getting manual steering parts....bad thing is i doubt theres any around anymore.

Whats different about the PS one?

 

[RonD]

Maybe you are limiting the options if only looking at Rangers

Ford used manual steering boxes for years and same box on several models of trucks
See if you can cross reference manual box part number with other model trucks
More of an after market for say an F100/F150 pitman arm than a Ranger pitman arm

Found this part numbers for manual steering box, E0TZ3504B
1980 part number
Seems to have been used on several trucks including Rangers

 

[Shran]

Yeah... the same exact steering box was used on Rangers, Bronco II's, Explorers, and F100-F350 trucks and ambulances from 1980 to 1997. Pitman arms may not be the same but I would look for full size trucks too, you might get lucky.

There are a ton of early and mid 90's 2wd 4 cylinder Rangers out there that have manual steering. Certainly less common than power steering trucks but they made a ton of them.

 

[bodied91ranger]

Thanks everyone for the replies. Made a few calls today and may have located a manual box that’s been sitting on a shelf at a salvage yard 100 miles away for 15 plus years haha. Fingers crossed they out the whole thing in a box and sent to me ups. Hopefully will get early next week. Will keep everyone up to date.

 

[bodied91ranger]

 

[Josh B]

Too bad you told them you wanted it, the price always doubles after that

It is a good looking box Those marks tho are one reason I go underneath any vehicle I am considering purchasing, they help tell you where their troubles were

 

[bodied91ranger]

the box and arm I found worked. Paid 50 dollars for the pair.

 

[bodied91ranger]

She’s running and on the road. Good feeling

 

[minorthreat999]

any chance that pitman arm has a part number on it?

 

[arse_sidewards]

A spline count for the sector shaft would be useful to know too. I bet it's Saginaw sourced manual steering box and that it shares a sector shaft with a ton of vehicles from the 1960s (or earlier) to 80s in which case there's probably a ton of options our there that are close enough to work if you're willing to file out any keyed splines that prevent you from clocking it properly.

 

[minorthreat999]

A spline count for the sector shaft would be useful to know too. I bet it's Saginaw sourced manual steering box and that it shares a sector shaft with a ton of vehicles from the 1960s (or earlier) to 80s in which case there's probably a ton of options our there that are close enough to work if you're willing to file out any keyed splines that prevent you from clocking it properly.

You're doing so much assuming, especially in the comment you deleted. I haven't even picked up a manual box yet. you're right a spline count for the sector shaft would be good to know. Ive been specifically trying to figure out if a saginaw pump would work here, maybe with an adapter, and trying to find a a more common pitman that might mate. I've been on car-part and thats likely where the ranger gear/pitman would be found. Guy can't ask for one part number.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I’m moving this over to the correct section…