I have one of those. It works, but it aint no miracle worker. With big tires you are gonna wear the bushings out quickly. Its just the way it is, the brace will keep things from braking though.



x2!!!! There is a writeup in the tech section!

 

and do yourself a favor and upgrade to brass bushings if you go the rebuild route

as soon as the stock bushings ware out on my new arm, that's what I'm do'n!

as well as adding a grease zerk to the side of that bad boy

 

Yeah, but apperantly most times you need to machine them to fit, or go custom..

 

wouldn't machining to fit be considered custom?

 

It works great to keep the idler arm from bending, 'cause I have one of those. It won't save the joint where it attaches to the relay rod though, because mine was completely shot.

 

dang it seem a lot of peeps are having this problem. ima try to do mine too.. kinda nervous tho...

 

exactly. The Gusset just makes the forces applied on the whole steering system go somewhere else, in this case, the balljoints.

Should be noted, balljoint spacers wreak havoc on idler arms =) Without the gusset, it will bend on your first wheeln trip and toe-in your alignment pretty bad... in other words, get out, adjust the toe with your eyes before you drive the thing home.

 

hey jay, i read your writeup, but i have a 95 pickup. My idler arm looks extremely different from yours, so im wondering is the procedure the same?

 

 

I just replaced my Pitman arm today and have run into a problem that searches didn't resolve. Once I tightened the castle nut to spec, I noticed that the hole for the cotter pin was not close enough to engage the slots in the castle nut. Is there a way to resolve this or do I need a different Pitman arm?

 

from what i have gathered, there are two different styles. Jays looks like superbleeders

While mine looks like this

 

Hmmmm...good question...maybe toyota made those so you would have to buy a new one instead of doing the bushings......can you even do bushings on that one???

It looks like to me the style like jays and bleeders (and mine for that matter) should bolt up...?

edit: OR! maybe that is a cheap(?) aftermarket??? (best guess)

 

im pretty sure its original.. im only the second owner of my truck and i have all the repair papers. He took it to the dealer for everything, and the idler arm isnt listed in any of the RO's.

I also just want to know if i can rebuild it? If anyone wants to chime i would be very appreciative

 

that's what the one looked like that I removed, if you'll notice on page 1:



either will bolt up, it just shows how different aftermarket manufactures can make their OEM replacement style parts

the type my old one was, I don't think you can rebuild them, or at least I've never heard of it being done, but it may be possible. if I hadn't have tossed my old one, I'd pull the big bolt off and look

 

(as previously stated)

Does it move when you shake the steering wheel???

If yes, might need to be replaced or rebuilt (if you can)...
If no, i probly wouldnt put it on my list of top things to do....

 

My front end has a pretty nice shake at highway speeds. But the idler arm doesn't move up and down when the steering wheel is turned. It seems very solid but I figured if it's 10 dollars to rebuild it I might as well give it a shot.

 

Same here, I have a nice...vibration at highway speeds and I have about three inches of play in the steering wheel (to much for my liking). But I had someone shake the wheel for me while I looked at it and it didn't move up and down but more of a off center hula hoop action(but only slightly). I figure I might as well rebuild it since it's only ten dollars. Does anyone think that this could be contributing to the play in the wheel or that I'm due to rebuild? I have 137,000 miles and it has never been replaced. Sorry op for the minor thread jack.

 

Looks like a moog idler arm to me. Those are crap and not rebuildable.

Grab a used one from a junker truck (93-95 for you) and rebuild it. The oem ones are the best.. And only ones you can rebuild IIRC.