Flaming River Manual Steering - pitman arm

inri · Jan 1, 2016

Hi guys,

I just installed the flaming river manual steering box and pitman arm. My question is the pitman arm does not seem to seat as high on the steering box sector as the original steering box.

I believe that the shaft is tapered so the pitman arm will only go on so far... From what I can see the pitman arm is on the threads and is flush with the bottom of the steering sector....

I torqued is to about 100ft lbs and didn't want to go any more....

Should the pitman arm be seated higher or what?

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View attachment 299937 View attachment 299938

Sorry uploaded wrong pics earlier

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Brewzer67 · Jan 1, 2016

Mine sat flush like the stock box so it looks like something may be off. There is a section where the spines are missing to provide an index to use to make sure things are lined up properly. It is visible in your photo. Is the Pitman arm lined up correctly with that index area?

inri · Jan 1, 2016

Hi Brewzer, Yes there are 3 splines that are missing to line up. They are located in a triagular shape so it's pretty hard to not install correctly. Otherwise the pitman arm would be facing the other direction or severely out of place.

I sprayed some lubricant on the pitman arm and steering splines and then installed the pitman arm. IT's on there very snug. The connector rod seems to be lower on the steering side than the passenger side. I don't have a level small enough to see how much but I can "eye" it and know that it's lower...

Brewzer67 · Jan 1, 2016

And you made sure the steering box was centered before putting it on? I would assume so but figured I would ask. When I initially was setting mine up I had the box clocked 1/3 of a turn off.

inri · Jan 1, 2016

Good question Brewzer...
The steering wheel turns 1 and about a third (1.30) times to the left and 1 and three quarters (1.75) times to the right. I adjusted the steering per Flaming rivers instructions and then lined up the green line on the shaft in the picture with the green dot on the bottom side of the steering box.

Any suggestions?

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In reading my last post it would appear that my box is off about 1/3 of a turn too right? Perhaps that is the issue?....

Brewzer67 · Jan 1, 2016

Sounds like you are off by the same amount I was. I would pull the arm and re-center it.

inri · Jan 2, 2016

Brewzer67 said:
Sounds like you are off by the same amount I was. I would pull the arm and re-center it.

I'll try to do this on Sunday and post afterwards. Hopefully this is my issue. Thanks for your help Brewzer and Happy New Year.

To be continued....

inri · Jan 3, 2016

inri said:
I'll try to do this on Sunday and post afterwards. Hopefully this is my issue. Thanks for your help Brewzer and Happy New Year.

To be continued....

OK. I took the pitman arm back off. I turned the steering wheel and it turned 2.25 turns to the left and 2.25 turns to the right....
I think I may have bought an inferior or wrong pitman arm. I bought it off ebay about a year ago and have only now just installed it....This is just my opinion for the time being. - Note to self don't buy anything online that I will not install very soon...

The pitman arm will not move up any higher on the steering box, due to the pitman arm being tapered. Even when I tighten the nut on the bottom to apx 100 ft lbs it is still lower than it should be by about 1/2" which throws off the control rod a bit as the other side is higher. I think I am going to order the pitman arm part from Summit racing @ $109 and see if my suspicion is correct. Perhaps a new pitman arm will slide up the shaft more.

I don't know what else it could be other than a wrong or bad cast pitman arm that won't slide up the steering box shaft any futher. The part number on my pitman arm is P 18452.

partmopar · Jan 3, 2016

I think The drag link needs to be level from the pitman arm to the idler arm. You may just have the wrong arm just like you are thinking. Those pushrods look to be rubbing on the heads. Just saying.

Brewzer67 · Jan 3, 2016

It looks like you have the right arm but I wonder if it just mis-machined. See here:
http://www.musclecarparts.co.nz/1962-72-mopar-b-e-body-pitman-arm

There is also a prior post here on the site referencing that part number.
http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/archive/index.php/t-56441.html

Keep us posted...

inri · Jan 3, 2016

partmopar said:
I think The drag link needs to be level from the pitman arm to the idler arm. You may just have the wrong arm just like you are thinking. Those pushrods look to be rubbing on the heads. Just saying.

Partmopar, yes I'll confirm once summits new pitman arm arrives this week. Yeah, the pushrods got a little too close to the rocker arm and lovely metal shavings went everywhere.

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Brewzer67 said:
It looks like you have the right arm but I wonder if it just mis-machined. See here:
http://www.musclecarparts.co.nz/1962-72-mopar-b-e-body-pitman-arm

There is also a prior post here on the site referencing that part number.
http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/archive/index.php/t-56441.html

Keep us posted...

Thanks Brewzer, yeah I think it may be mis-machined....stay tuned and I'll post later this week. Thanks again!

inri · Jan 7, 2016

inri said:
Partmopar, yes I'll confirm once summits new pitman arm arrives this week. Yeah, the pushrods got a little too close to the rocker arm and lovely metal shavings went everywhere.

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Thanks Brewzer, yeah I think it may be mis-machined....stay tuned and I'll post later this week. Thanks again!

I ordered a new pitman arm from Summit. The new pitman arm went on the steering box sector about 1/2 way too. Soooo I decided that it's not the pitman arms that are mis-machined but the Flaming River sector. PST (Suspension and pitman arm company) told me that they have had issues with FR in the past and thats it, just FR....

I'm going to return the pitman arm back to Summit as the pitman from PST actually fit a little better; deeper. The center link is still lower on that side, but I was able to get it on a little bit further where there are now 2 threads showing below the nut. I took off the pitman arm to see it is about 80% engaged on the sector. I'm happy with that.
Rather than jerk around with this anymore, though I'm not sure what else I can do other than buy a different steering box, I've tighted the pitman arm and center link and moving on. It just irritates me that the center link is not level, it's off about 1/4" or so.

NOTE TO ANYONE WHO BUYS A FLAMING RIVER MANUAL STEERING BOX FR1540 WITH SMALL SECTOR...........YOUR PITMAN ARM MAY NOT FIT ALL THE WAY ON THE SECTOR. - Just want to put it out there in case someone else has this same issue.

Detroit Iron · Jan 7, 2016

Just curious why you purchased a FR box in place of a stock style from someone like Firm Feel.

inri · Jan 7, 2016

Hi Detroit,
I purchased a FR box from my research of the company and part. Also I picked it up for a "Steal" at $499 with free shipping. Guess it wasn't a steal....

hangn0ut · Jan 14, 2016

Dont know how much it tapers but if its slight you can try heating that arm up then installing it.

Flaming River Manual Steering - pitman arm

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