2wd F100 steer gear pitman arm

[Mikes79Bronco]

I bought my 71 with a 2wd steer box conversion already done to it. But whoever did it used a drop pitman arm and my draglink angles are way off, creating a lot of bump steer. I think what I need is a stock pitman arm from the F100 but no one seems to make them anymore. I ordered Proforged 103-10050 pitman arm which had some conflicting application data depending on what site you looked at it on. The splines and length were correct but the taper for the draglink was way to small. I also tried an arm from a 90s f350 which was too short and draglink hole also too small. I believe I have the wild horses drag link, not sure if that makes a difference.

https://www.wildhorses4x4.com/product/Adj_Drag_Link_P_S_F100_Kit/Custom_tie_rods#qanda

My question is does anyone know what pitman arm I am looking for and if any vendors happen to make them or if I will have to fin one in a junkyard?

 

[bmc69]

?? I've owned many an EB with hugely more difference between drag link and track bar angles than yours and they drove fine. And further to that, yours would be about as perfect as perfect gets if you simply raised the axle end of the track bar a little.... Being parallel to each other is good..but both being as parallel to the ground as much as possible is more gooder. ;-)

 

[Broncobowsher]

The too small a tapered hole can be fixed with a reamer to open it up to the larger size.

 

[DirtDonk]

You can fix quite a bit of that angular difference by rotating the tie rod center link down slightly.
Instead of having the lower drag link end grease fitting pointed almost straight up as yours is, it should be pointed a little further forward towards the radiator.
I think this is the first time I’ve ever had to recommend going this opposite direction!
Most of the Zerk fittings are facing straight ahead instead.

Very strange that all the others have such small tapered holes. But as mentioned, easy to fix.
I would take the first one you bought that seemed to be correct in the other dimensions, then as said, just taper the hole larger.
Even a cheap reamer will do the job.
And it should be way cheaper than buying new Pitman arms that you can’t use.

 

[Mikes79Bronco]

?? I've owned many an EB with hugely more difference between drag link and track bar angles than yours and they drove fine. And further to that, yours would be about as perfect as perfect gets if you simply raised the axle end of the track bar a little.... Being parallel to each other is good..but both being as parallel to the ground as much as possible is more gooder. ;-)

I hear ya on that, just trying to eliminate the bump steer that I do have & the drag link is so close to the center link that the zerk actually hits it when the suspension is compressed. You can see the marks on the center link in the first pic. Maybe I have another source of bump steer and I'm going down the wrong path with this?

The too small a tapered hole can be fixed with a reamer to open it up to the larger size.

Yeah between the 3 different arms they all had different tapered hole sizes, the reamer route is an option that I'm fine with I just need to figure out that taper.

You can fix quite a bit of that angular difference by rotating the tie rod center link down slightly.
Instead of having the lower drag link end grease fitting pointed almost straight up as yours is, it should be pointed a little further forward towards the radiator.
I think this is the first time I’ve ever had to recommend going this opposite direction!
Most of the Zerk fittings are facing straight ahead instead.

Very strange that all the others have such small tapered holes. But as mentioned, easy to fix.
I would take the first one you bought that seemed to be correct in the other dimensions, then as said, just taper the hole larger.
Even a cheap reamer will do the job.
And it should be way cheaper than buying new Pitman arms that you can’t use.

That makes sense, I didn't even think about spinning the center link. I'll give that a try and see what happens. I don't need it perfect, just trying to make it better it would be nice if it didn't dart all over the road in bumps.

 

[DirtDonk]

Lots of things can cause that, right out to the tires and toe-in or out. But first things first, get the linkage dialed in a bit more like you plan, and see how that goes.
Speaking of tires though, what air pressure are you running? How big? How much lift?

Interesting thing about the tie-rod. Now that I'm looking at it on a larger screen, I see that the tie-rod is actually pointed very close to where it should be. But some input from the pitman arm looks to be pushing the lower draglink end upward in spite of the angle of the tie-rod.
Here's where "the test" comes in really handy. Will let you know what all is going on up front there.
Have you done it yet, where a helper turns the wheel while you watch what's happening with the steering and suspension linkages?
Very informative...

Paul

 

[Yeller]

It’s a 7* taper
Reamer