The pitman are is on my buddies old 55 ford truck, it for whatever reason has been made longer or shortened. my question is it safe? I don't know who or when it was done, but he was wondering if he should locate a new one or just go with it. If I'm not mistaken that are forged correct?
I estimate 5-10% of old " barn find" commercial trucks have pieced together pitman arms. Must have been very common at one time to modify these.
Me either, i've seen it done, hell my brother has on on his car that was modified 30yrs ago and still holding. I would be looking for a replacement ASAP!! It would not be somthing I would run period. Just my opinion. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I heard of it being done, but mostly heated and bent, If I did`nt weld it myself, I`d be leary, even if I did I`d be paronoid and be constantly checking it. Not worth it IMO
I did it on my Model A build in the 70's I drove car for 15 years then sold it and as far as I know it is still on the road. I am a certified welder however and I would suggest having someone who knows what their doing do it.
I think what they did was use a different steering box, at one point, so it had a different spline on the big end and original ford on the small end to connect to the drag link. I've heard of it being done but am just not sure I would trust it.
The ability of the guy doing the welding, the capacity of the machine used, and the process in which it was done all determine how safe it is or isn't. Have it xrayed or replace it. A lot of those old timers could weld very well. Gene
It depends on the quality of the weld, and the design. Was it booger welded? Was it prepped to get proper penetration? Is the bung reinforced/gussetted to the arm in any way? Post up a picture so we can see it.
Ive got to admit I done it on my '59 that is now running a toyota gear. I welded it myself, let it cool very slow. Back in the day anyone who ran roundy round cars done this. What a proving ground. I know that this particular type of fabrication is questionable at best. I WOULD NOT TRUST ANYONE ELSES WELDING SKILLS TO THIS!!! I guess it's my redneck showing. Fenderless
A bunch of us hangin in a buddies garage where just talkin about this...a steering piece welded.. He had his tie rod welded, on an old 50's Plymouth. It had been in the garage and got cut in half for some reason..... Anyways, one of the guys welded it back together and told him it should get him back and forth to work until he gets a new one..... Well a month later he went surfin in Fla.... forgot to replace it..... He got in a head on collision, totaled the car, and had to buy a new car while in Fla.... Before the impound lot released it to the bone yard he had to gewt his stuff out, and pay fees which he did, and he also grabbed the steering arm which snapped with the tie rod still attached.... brought it home, and he thought the weld broke when he lost control. The weld was still intact!
Back in the 60's it was done a lot. I used to pin them,stick weld, then cool slowly for 15 min or so with a rosebud.Never had one break that I know of.When the weld was flushed out with a grider,you had a hard time finding it.The one on my 28 chev was welded then chromed around 1960.Its still on there.
IMHO, welded steering components should be a very last choice. If it was as you say; two different ends welded together to get the correct splines, it was a lazy shortcut. Find a replacement arm and have the proper splines machined into it if you have to.
Not knowing the history of the arm, I would redo it or replace. A pitman is fine to weld if you are a competent welder. welding a pitman arm here is a thread with info, both mis and good, as well as drama Again there is nothing wrong with welding a pitman arm if you know what you are doing. This goes for any and all chassis parts and frames that are made, or modified originals. Knowing when the fab work/mods you are wanting to do are above your skill level is something only you can decide.
I will try to get a pic of it. Who ever welded it didn't try to hide the fact, it doesn't look horrible, but it's noticeable that's for sure.... I told him to dig thru my pile and try to find one that works, and we could have the correct spline done on it. We agetting a replace it but was curious to see of I was off my rocker for wanting to replace it. I mean I hear of guys narrowing straight axles and to me that seems completely crazy, but I've never seen it done, so maybe I'm crazy for thinking that's crazy... The whole worlds crazy!
Had one made for my '41 Ford truck. My brother did the welding, we heated it first then he arced it. He was a fabricator at a steel shop that made structural beams for building and highway bridges, the stuff that gets x rayed before it's allowed to be used. I wouldn't have trusted anyone else to weld it for me. It's been on for about eight years, no probs and I never think about it.
Those of us that learned to weld 50+ years ago usually can weld damm near anything successfully ,those guys with a 110V HF MIG not so much. A male/female V joint where the 2 pieces join will give some mechanical strength to the weld. I've done more than one piece of steering parts over the years with no prob.But then again I have some idea of what I'm doing.
So we weld driveshafts every day right? If the weld on the transmission end fails it will get real ugly fast wont it? We weld frames to change steering box types and locations,do they ever crack and fall off? We weld rag joints and universal joints on steering shafts,ever had one of those break? Locateing brackets welded to rear axels for 3 and 4 bars,if one of those broke you'd be on your top pretty fast. I guess I just cant understand the paranoia that comes with welding a pitman arm,if its done right. We welded the heel of a fork on one of the 24000# cap lift trucks at the marina I ran . They were 18' long and lifted 28' boats 32' in the air to top racks.It never broke again (they were welded together from Lift-All, the mfgr). Bottom line ,if you know what your doing you can safely weld anything. edit) first thing you have to do is get rid of the mig for a job like that and get a good stick unit matched to the rod and metal you are welding.
My 32 coupe has a shortened pitman arm. It works great and thousands of miles later still works great. A good welder is the winner.
Done right, 100% safe. I have many, many thousands of miles on welded pitman arms to prove it. One of the keys is to normalize the heat affected area (look it up...if you don't understand the terms your opinion is of little worth).
i have welded many Pitman arms i have cut 2 spindles to make it longer for more travel on rounderound cars. have hit the wall and never broke it I took a hub from a full floater rear end and welded it to a front spindle for bigger bearings on the same cars many wall hits and no braking I am a certified welder also my t truck is welded cut 2 to make it 1" longer been on there since 69
All welding snobbery aside, let's boil this down to some facts: 1) You can weld all sorts of car parts without failure. That's called anecdotal evidence. You know - "I had unprotected sex with a hooker once and didn't catch anything so that proves it's safe to do." 2) If you look at pretty much any automaker's suspension parts, you won't see a single weld in a critical area. In fact, they go to great lengths to avoid welds. Now, those boys have all been to college and have all sorts of welding machines you can only dream of. They also have welders who know how to weld and have all sorts of papers to prove it. So if General Motors avoids welds on suspension parts, even with all that stuff you and I don't have, what can you infer from that?
Yeah definitely depends on the welder. My pickup has one with over 10 years on it already. Like JohnEvans and trbomax, I've welded some serious chit that had much more stress and load than any car part. Stick welding definitely a good skill to learn. Gregcon-production stuff is very different from a one-off hot rod! TP
Another crazy thing I welded was a 3' dia crane base onto the deck of our barge that we used for setting docks. That barge has been pulled over on its side quite a few times in the last 20 yrs by that crane. Nothing has ever broken or been repaired. And I should worry abot a 6" pitman arm???
That link to the other pitman thread has my choice for all-time favorite reply on the hamb... Not my reply, but i like it:
I have welded a few dozen. Zero issues. From boulevard cruiser, to rock crawler, to desert race truck. Hard use, on some over a decade old. Done right, totally safe.
I infer that it's cheaper to forge a part than it is to have a human weld it. That's all. Comparing assembly line production to a hot rod build is like comparing monkeys to bridges.
The Jalopy Journal
