Drilling pitman arm?

[Hagan]

Is it safe (enough material) to drill the pitman arm out to 7/8" to accept a Chevy TRE? I know its been done before...but I am using a tapered insert and not reaming it. Actually I'm wondering if this is even safe?

http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/INSSTEER.html

 

[brinker88]

Yup I did it to my SAS truck 2 years ago. Just take your time and you'll be fine. Make sure you use the 1.5"/ft taper reamer (of course), go slow, and use plenty of cutting oil or some sort of lubricant.

 

[Hagan]

What about using a tapered insert?

 

[brinker88]

That would require drilling STRAIGHT through the pitman arm making it weaker (taking out more material). It will wear out faster and is a PITA. I'd just rent the reamer from someone on here. I sold mine to member Destroyer. Maybe he would rent it out to you or something.

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

There isn't that much meat on the pitman....those inserts are meant for the steering knuckles themselves and are too deep for the pitman arm anyways.

You need to ream the pitman.

 

[Hagan]

Ok with what reamer? I don't want the Snap On piece of junk reamer either.

Can a machine shop do this easily?

 

[4.0B2]

Ok with what reamer? I don't want the Snap On piece of junk reamer either.

Can a machine shop do this easily?

1. my snap on reamer has been awesome...and well used.
2. that's probably your best bet...

 

[Hagan]

1. my snap on reamer has been awesome...and well used.
2. that's probably your best bet...

Not knocking Snap On but heard some bad things about the reamer. If it works for you then good

I just don't think a machine shop will do this. I guess I'll find out in the morning.

 

[4.0B2]

there's not much of anything that i can't get done at the machine shop i use.

 

[Hagan]

The machine shops I am talking about seem like they only have engines/heads laying all around the shop. Never asked if they do any other work. Same kind of shop your talking about?

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

http://www.xkut-reamers.com/servlet/StoreFront

These have proven to be excellent reamer for the price over and over.

Part number 5952.

 

[legoms013]

http://www.xkut-reamers.com/servlet/StoreFront

These have proven to be excellent reamer for the price over and over.

Part number 5952.

I have this one. I read the reviews on the Snap On and went instead with the xcut. I used it about a dozen times so far and is still as sharp as new. Well worth the extra $$$.

 

[4.0B2]

The machine shops I am talking about seem like they only have engines/heads laying all around the shop. Never asked if they do any other work. Same kind of shop your talking about?

Nah, my machine shop does anything with machine metal not just doing heads or blocks. Even the ones that do auto stuff should be able to handle this job tho.

 

[--weezl--]

wow, never realized how much those reamer bits actually are! i used to drill holes in semi truck frames non stop (probably averaged 30-40 3/4? inch holes per day, for around 6-8 months, each hole required 1 pilot bit, 1 slightly larger bit, and 2 reamers, i probably destroyed 10-15 of the reamers!

they work great till they start to get dull and catch, when that happens, you either break your wrist, get punched in the face or some other sort of nasty... we were using some massive drill for it on this one volvo cube van, single rear axle, that we had put a freight liner dual rear axle on (weight distribution issues) my buddy who was using it was bracing it up against his chest, the bit caught, it picked him up (he was about 220lbs) off his stool, and pinned him against the bottom of the cube box till he realized what had happened and let go of the trigger... damn near knocked him out too... i nearly broke my wrist a few times, took the spade handle to the face once, cut my lip pretty good

 

[brinker88]

Like I said in above post. Contact member Destroyer93 (something like that). I sold him my Xcut reamer. Maybe he'll let you rent it from him instead of buying it for $100+