Does anyone know of an early Ford Pitman Arm with a reverse taper? I would like to mount a pitman arm similar to the one shown in this pic: I know I could ream a 7° taper on the inside but was hoping to find an arm with the taper already on the engine side of the Pitman. My current setup hits the radius rod on minor bumps. TIA Tony
The previous suggestions are good, all except the half way taper BAD SCENE. You can go to truck tie rod ends and you will have enough meat for a full taper. They are 3/4 instead of 11/16. Be sure to square the tube ends and use jamb nuts.
reaming half way from other side will work fine if you put a step on the face of the nut to match the old taper dia. only need about .030.
You can buy split taper sleeves. Drill the hole through, put the sleeve in with the taper in the side you want it then assemble. The split alows the sleeve to expand and lock in the bore.
Many aftermarket steering hoops and pitman arms are tapered 50-50 so you can run it either way. Pete&Jakes does it on theirs Part #3020 800 Saginaw Pitman Arm - Pete & Jakes Hot Rod Parts (peteandjakes.com)
Do a search and you will see that the ones that are 50-50 are usually forged and or thicker than the cheap junk passed off to hot rodders.
Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I have to buy a new pitman arm anyway because my current one looks like this. I had to heat and bend it to get it away from the radius rod. I'm not happy with it because of the effect on my steering and I have no confidence on the metal's integrity. I'll check out the 32 pitman arm and if it doesn't work out I'll check into reaming the backside of a standard arm.
A real 32 pitman will cost ten times what any other year pitman will cost. From 35 through 48 Ford used a bunch of different arms that will fit the box. Some will need a slight tweak to bend it, and some will need a taper from the other side. And maybe one of them might just fit perfectly without any mods. Sorry I don’t have a list of the tilts and taper directions.
Yup, never saw "tech" unbolt a pitman or steering arm..................ever. And Tech was small caps and in quotes because most of them are failed racers that can't fabricate....................
Too hard to lower the mounting point of the wishbone, and even get a little more positive caster out of the deal? Im doing the same thing right now on the Jalopy I'm working on. Gene.
Only because Ive been welding for 40 years, I would cut it off, flip it and weld it back on (the big end)
You might not necessarily need a 32 arm, although one would be ideal. Here are 2 steering arms that would work. One I have put a kink in it to emulate the kink in the 32 arm. You ought to be able to find one of these part numbers. These are tapered from the steering box side. You might need to re-clock the splines. A simple filing job by all accounts.
built dozens of arms that way for dirt track cars, never had a problem even in that harsh environment.
I don't know, enough to know...is that a '32 or an A frame? If it's an A, what steering box does it look like? I see it fits with a SBC. A modified F-1??? Thanks, Gene.