I Feel So Stupid...Idler Arm Removal

[customsportsman]

Boy, do I feel dumb,
I cannot see how to get the idler arm separated from the center link. I have everything else out. I cannot get my pickle fork between the center link and the idler arm. The local rental tie rod pullers have fingers that are too thick. I also cannot get enough room to do the two-hammer trick.

What stupid thing am I missing?

 

[Welder guy]

Can you give us the make , model and year of your car? Any pictures to help us out?

 

[Rainy Day]

I recommend something like this.

 

[david hill]

I have had this puller for many years. Bought it from Auto Zone. Would recommend replacing the Through bolts w/ grade 8 Quality bolts, nuts, and thicker washers. Good for assisting w/ tie rod ends and center links or idler arms and pitman arms.

 

[HOT FURY]

Boy, do I feel dumb,
I cannot see how to get the idler arm separated from the center link. I have everything else out. I cannot get my pickle fork between the center link and the idler arm. The local rental tie rod pullers have fingers that are too thick. I also cannot get enough room to do the two-hammer trick.

What stupid thing am I missing?

If you have a harbor freight nearby I picked up a mixed set of pullers and used probably 3 different ones in the set for my different front end parts. The set was pretty cheap and came in very handy, unfortunately I dont recall exactly which one I used specifically for the idler arm

 

[Just Carbs]

Wrong pickle?
I grind on them till they submit.

 

[Big_John]

Wrong pickle?

^This^

There used to be 2 different pickle forks. One was for ball joints and thicker and one was thinner for tie rods.

I gave in and bought one that attaches to my air chisel a while ago. Much easier....

 

[Boydsdodge]

I use this.

 

[Just Carbs]

^This^

There used to be 2 different pickle forks. One was for ball joints and thicker and one was thinner for tie rods.

I gave in and bought one that attaches to my air chisel a while ago. Much easier....

And the chisel pickle imparts less stress on the parts too. More rapid taping and less big banging.

 

[Gerald Morris]

Use the tool David Hill showed. I have one, and it works well. You can find idler arm specific tools on eBay if you look in the "vintage" tools. Modern crap seldom is cast of decent stuff.

 

[marty koirtyohann]

from personal eBoy, do I feel dumb,
I cannot see how to get the idler arm separated from the center link. I have everything else out. I cannot get my pickle fork between the center link and the idler arm. The local rental tie rod pullers have fingers that are too thick. I also cannot get enough room to do the two-hammer trick.

What stupid thing am I missing?

well from personal experance use a BFH & HT ON THE SWEALD PART OF THE CNRLNK THEN IT SHOLD LET THE IDLER ARM FALL DOWN THEN WITH YUT IMPART HAMMER & A PICKEL FOLK ATACH,\MENT IT SOULD FALL OFF THE RST IF THE WAY OR TAK IT TO A SHOP & HAVE THEM DO IT

 

[MoPar~Man]

I don't see how you can use this to remove the center link from the pitman arm and idler arm:

That is more appropriate for a tie rod end. The center link extends to the left and right so the arms on that tool are going to get in the way.

This tool (mentioned above):

Does have the correct geometry for the pitman and idler, I don't see many vendors selling it on amazon, one that does has 6 different sizes for sale, but these are advertised as bearing pullers. ?

Amazon mostly sells these tools as kits, like this one:

I have something like the tool in the upper left corner, I bought it to pull the pitman arm off the steering gear of my '01 Ram (FWD) but it did not work - it was deforming (I was using a really long bar). I think the socket was also deforming. In the end I took an angle grinder to the arm, one-handed using my left arm on my back under the truck, and made a diagonal cut through the pitman without touching the steering gear shaft, and then the arm pulled off easily.

As I take apart a front sub frame I recently acquired, the arms of that tool in the upper left corner are too thick to get into position to remove the center link from the pitman arm, and the gap between the arms are too wide for the idler arm. A better candidate for the idler arm would be the center tool on the top row. The tool on the top right would be a better candidate to remove the center link from the pitman arm, but Amazon doesn't sell it by itself, only in kits. Ebay does sell it separately.

I'm not sure about the strength of the tool design of the tool in the center-lower row. I just don't see a tool of that design holding up without bending/breaking.

So that's where I am right now, looking for a tool to remove the center link from the idler arm and pitman arm. I could just remove the pitman arm and idler arm from the frame but I wanted to take all these components apart and separate them for storage / possible future use.

 

[customsportsman]

I feel even more stupid. I used the tool in the photo. Total removal time ..20 seconds. 39 years of wrenching and I never used one. Thanks everyone for the help.

On a side note, my son and I got into a work groove last night. We got the upper ball joints into the control arm, and pressed on the new bushings. Also, we used the welding trick on the lower control arm bushing shells. Worked like a champ!

We also used the weld bead and air hammer trick on the inner shells on the pin. Also worked like a champ, and zero burrs on the pins.

Thanks again everyone!

 

[marty koirtyohann]

IF U WAS HERE WE WOULD HAVE IT OFF IN 5 MINS OR LESS & NOT USEING ANY OT TE TOOLS SHOWED HERE DO U HVE A AIR COMPESSOR TO RUN AIR TOOLS
U WILL Need ONE & air compressor that wil l put out 5 cfm @ 90psi Air Impact Hammer Kit & this 21/32 In. Air Tie Rod Separator & I know there r guys here thatwill sau u don ned these . but take i from a old mn they help now i prefer a bel driven air compressor . i hd 1 thay had a bad pump so i us aoyther one now i have 60 gall of compressoed air

 

[Big_John]

We also used the weld bead and air hammer trick on the inner shells on the pin. Also worked like a champ, and zero burrs on the pins.

I've never used that method, but I think the next time, that will be what I do... At least on the bearing outer shells.

I'm torn on that method for taking the inner shell off. I've had good luck grinding them thin in a couple spots and removing them that way... But I will give that some thought.

 

[ynst]

pull out the center bolt on the idler arm and that'll let you remove it from the cross-member thus allowing the center-link and tie rod to drop low enough to get a couple pf hammers in there.

 

[MoPar~Man]

Any suggestions here?

I'm at the point where any more force is going to break the 1/2 to 3/4 socket adapter. A wedge or fork I don't think is the thing to use here unless you want to mess up the internals of the steering gear?

 

[MoPar~Man]

This was posted on reddit just 3 weeks ago:

r/DieselTechs
Homemade Pitman arm puller

 

[Boydsdodge]

Any suggestions here?

View attachment 648844

I'm at the point where any more force is going to break the 1/2 to 3/4 socket adapter. A wedge or fork I don't think is the thing to use here unless you want to mess up the internals of the steering gear?

Are you installing a new pitman arm? Throw some heat into it.