[Guest]

I replaced the steering gear box in my car today with a box I bought from Lee Manufacturing. When I reinstalled the Pitman Arm it doesn't seem to go back on as deep. Are there different sized arms for these cars?

On my old box there was a very small amount of space between the upper portion of the arm & the bottom of the box. With the nex box there is enough room for me to put my finger inbetween the top of the arm & the bottom of the box.

The arm is torqued to 180ft lbs as directed...

 

[Guest]

just checked on a stock box i have with the pitman arm still installed and it fits my pinky finger in between, i also just finished sendind scott (mass9c1) a pitman arm i had removed from another box and it was also the same if you need a measurement i would be glad to go outside and get you a proper measurement for the pitman arm mount to gear box.

 

[Guest]

Thanks 1 BAD-LAC

The distance on mine mesures 1/2 inch. On the other box it was at 1/8 inch. If you get a chance to mesure that would be great.

I see two different parts numbers for pitman arms on a '95 caprice box - 7837645 & 26047288. My concern is that perhaps the box Lee Used to rebuild this unit may have a different sized stud for the pitman arm to press onto.

Anyone know if there were two different sized pitman arms used on B-Bodies?

 

[Guest]

Did you consider calling Tom Lee to ask about this?

 

[Guest]

Yes, I contacted Lee today (posted on weekend when I couldn't get ahold of him). There is only one size pitman arm with the Caprice Police package. They assured me its alright to have the 1/2 inch gap on top.

 

[Guest]

Let me know how you do with that Lee box. Mine felt like a dream for a short while, now after 30K miles it has more slop than my stock box had after 150K miles. Maybe it can be adjusted but it is a dissapointment at the moment, for $500+ it should last a little longer I think.

 

[Guest]

DSBM,

Not to take issue with your comments, but are you sure the box is at fault, and have you consulted with Lee about what may be going on?

Adjustment is possible--but I hope you'll check the entire system for any other abnormal conditions before you start tweaking the gear assuming that it is the problem.

This is perhaps outside of the realm of what you are experiencing, but I'm aware that Lee has developed a mod to the B-body steering gear to add a 4th mounting lug on the gear housing and a 4th mounting point (bracket) to be welded to the frame.

What has been observed is that the inherently unstable tripod (3-bolt) mount arrangement used on the B-body, since GM changed the casting to have only the 3 mounting points, allows the gear to "walk around" against the frame. Back in the day (60's & 70's), the original Saginaw 800 gear had 4 mounting lugs, even if they may not have all been used to mount the gear in the vehicle. Cars that used this family of steering gears, back before the late B-body, had much smaller wheel/tire packages, and combined with many tires today that have much greater grip than anything available back in the early days, short of race rubber, the sterring system sees considerably more load, which means individual components - tie rods, center link, idler, and the steering gear itself - tend to wear quicker, flex more, etc.

Whatever the problem may be, let us know what you find out is going on in your case.