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Question about Pitman arm for Xover steering.... did some searching

Silver84k5

Silver84k5

1/2 ton status
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Ok i know about the 2wd box.... i am just curious about the Pitman arm, i read that i need a 80's ford Van pitman arm, thats kinda vague... is it any Ford van from the 80's? or is there a specific one? also, im using the old tie rod off my 10 bolt for the drag link, Will i need to Make a new Taper hole in the pitman arm? Thank you.....
 
Its a late 70's, early 80's model ford van. Just start looking at them and you'll see 2 different types. 1 skinny one, and 1 thats beefy. The beefy one is the one you'll want to get. It is currently setup for 1/2 ton rod ends. If you want beefier rod ends then you'll need to get it retapered. I did that and it costed me $40. I'm looking to sell my pitman tho cause I need more drop than it gives due to my amount of lift my rig has. If you are interested then I'll let it go for $60, because of the machine work I had done on it. It's setup for the 1 ton rod ends and you can view pics of it here.

Crossover Steering & Pitman Arm Pictures
 
right on thx, ill just run tha half ton Ends till i bust one then go bigger, i want my rig as close to Fully one ton Everything as i can get it, but i need to go wheeling its been almost a year, so i half to hold off on this one but i might buy it later if you still have it thx again
 
No problem, I love my crossover setup actually. I was really amazed at how many of those pitmans are actually out there. I'll break it down on what I paid for mine. $8.95 from the junkyard, $40 for the retapering. I figure $11.05 is worth my time for pulling the arm off the Frod van, cleaning it up, driving back and forth to the machine shop, and then painting it, dont you? /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Good luck on your search and feel free to contact me if you have any further questions.
 
8.95?! right on, the guy who does my gears has a drill press and one of those tapering bits, Good to hear that its only 8.95 from the junkyard, ;P
 
Why waste your time scrounging the junk yards for a van pitman arm when you can simply call any lift kit manufacturer and ask for a '78 or '79 Ford F150 4x4 drop pitman arm?!?!?!

Superlift part number #1104 is all you need. And it costs only $50. So no searching for an arm and no trying to find some machine shop to redrill the hole for the taper.

Just get the Superlift arm and be done with it!!! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif
 
Question...

What taper does this Super Lift Ford Arm have?
How much drop does it give?
Most importantly, where can it be bought from for $50.00?

I need the 1 ton taper (es2027, es2026).
I need 4" of drop.

I considered the parts mike arm which gives a 4" drop, is tapered for 1 ton GM ends, and costs $89.00.

Thanks.
 
I got someone who can taper it, I dont need a drop pitman arm cuz i figure since im using the hysteer arm the draglink will be damnear level anyway, plus i only have 5 inch lift, and i can call any junkyard and tell them what i need, before i go scrounging /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif thx for the info though
 
Just a word of caution from those of us who have already been there, the draglink wont be anywhere close to level with 5" of lift and your histeer arm. I too have a histeer arm and require more drop from the pitman. I'm also going to use a 1" spacer for the steering arm to help things level out more.
 
The taper is the same as the ORD D60 crossover arm I have. I've laid them side by side and they are identical. Even Mudzer saw these arms in person and said they were identical. We had talked about the situation with others experiencing different tapers on different pitman arms and have both agreed that the Superlift arm is the same as the ORD arm.

Not exactly sure how much drop is on it as I've never had a stock arm on hand to lay them side by side. I do know they are the exact same drop as any other aftermarket lift manufacturers arms. If you take a look at most pics of anybody who have the crossover conversion, the arm is the same drop as theirs.
The thing I like about the Superlift arm is that it has more beef, or material, around it. Skyjacker arms seem to be too small. They have a smallish part at the drag link end and the body of the arm "tapers" to a wider part up at the steering box end.
The Superlift arm is all beef. Its thick and "squared" all the way from top to bottom.

I've bought 2 of these Ford pitman arms, separately at different times, from Rocky Mountain Suspension Products. They have them listed in their magazine ads for $50 even.

BTW, most aftermarket lift manufacturers advertise these Ford arms to fit either the 4" or 6" suspension lifts. I've seen these on the 2wd boxes and they give the perfect amount of drop and most importantly, give the necessary clearance for the drag link to clear the bottom of the frame rail.

I'm not real sure if the stock, straight pitman arm will work as good as a drop arm would. With a straight arm, the nut and threads that fasten to the arm will protrude up, and when turning left to right, with a straight, stock arm, the nut and threads can be very, very close to rubbing against the frame rail.
 
Well the thing is the Junkyard ford van arms only have 2" of drop to them. The one you're referring to I'm hoping has 4" of drop. You can check this by measuring at the centerline of each end on that pitman. Or even easier, measure at the top of the pitman where it connects to the gearbox by drawing an imaginary line horizontally outward, then drawing another line from the top of the draglink side. There should either be 2" or 4" of difference. Would you be able to check on this? I appreciate it.

What rod ends did you use? The ES2027 and ES2026 are the 1ton versions and I'm hoping they fit inside this superlift arm.
 
I tried a straight arm and had to bend it to clear a bolt head, and still had to do some grinding on the bolt head anyway. It was from some stock ford application, maybe a 2wd 3/4T?

I'm not sure the extra beef on the skyjacker arm is that big a deal, most steering linkage is so overbuilt that it's probably to the ridiculous point. There is a bit of length difference between some of the arms, so watch out for that. It's probably not a big deal in most situations but can be if your steering system is right on the edge of working right.

I usually recommend buying an arm that matches up with your steering arm, that way you know all the ratios are correct. They really should be sold as pairs, or at least with a recommendation of what to buy.
 
Hmm so you guys are saying it wouldnt be a good idea to use one off of a Van from the J-yard? Wax i thought you said thats where you got yours? so yours would be the stock 2 inch right?
 
No, I didn't say it wouldn't be a good idea to find an arm from a van.
I said "why waste the time and money to try and locate one at the salvage yards" when the arm is readily available with a simple phone call and has the correct drop on it that will work just fine. /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif

I would rather buy something once knowing it will work right away. I don't want to buy something that takes time because there are not very many of them in a salvage yard and when I do locate one, I don't want to have to call around to find a shop to do some modifications to it. Just too much time involved for one little simple part that can be had at a much faster time. /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif
 
I went out and got the pitman arm and brought it inside. It has exactly 3" of drop. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
I got some pics of my Superlift #1104 arm and found a pic of what the Skyjacker arm looks like. I know the Skyjacker looks like this because I had a '79 F150 and got a 6" lift for it, pitman arm included. Then I got the Superlift arm later for a crossover that never happened on one other truck and remembered the differences between the two arms. Here are the pics:

What a Skyjacker pitman arm looks like:
ordxover9.jpg


What a Superlift pitman arm #1104 looks like:
1749pitman_arm-med.jpg


Another one:
1749pitman_arm_ii-med.jpg


And again, another one:
1749pitman_arm_iii-med.jpg


You can clearly see the extra "beef" the Superlift arm has compared to the Skyjacker arm.

It's just my opinion that the Superlift arm would be stronger because it would look like the Skyjacker arm's body tapers down at the drag link end and would appear to be weaker and possibly break or shear off somewhere at that area.
But then again, I've never heard of any problems with the pitman arms, regardless of the brand. I'm just looking at the "overkill factor" of the thickness of the Superlift arm. /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif
 
I'm stuck between the Superlift arm and the PartsMike arm.

Here's a pic of the parts mike arm that I know has 4" of drop.
drop_pit_side.JPG

and
drop_pit_top.JPG


It's tapered for 1ton ends and is a direct bolt on.
 
That arm you show in the pics from Parts Mike is exactly what the Skyjacker arm looks like.

JMO that the Superlift would be better since it has more material around it. Beefy, huh? /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif
 
I think you got your brands mixed up. I'm pretty sure the skyjacker is the longer, wider arm.....
 
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