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What is this steering-related component and how badly did I mess up?
This is on my 2004 Express 3500 cutaway, dually 6.0. I was trying to get my pitman arm nut undone and seem to have pulled loose the linkage from the steering box to...I'm assuming the steering wheel? I don't know the name of the part though and am having trouble looking it up. The reason I ask how much trouble I'm in is because I noticed the splines on the rod from presumably the steering wheel. Is this one of those things where I was supposed to mark alignment very carefully so they go back together aligned the same way? Basically looking for any background info or advice you can give on my situation. Picture below.
Splines pictured top left where I'm pointing, and the connection to steering gearbox on bottom right.
Speaking of background info and advice, is the pitman bolt nut actually 1+5/16 or is it 33mm? I've seen conflicting information on YouTube and forums. Also, I can't seem to access the nut on the bottom with the steering gearbox connected to the frame, but when disconnected I can't seem to get leverage and the linkage keeps turning to the side (and knocked this shaft loose while wiggling it). Any suggestions or best practices on this? Thanks!
Yes that needs to be lined up well or your steering wheel will be off. Also don't turn the steering wheel too much because the clock spring for the airbag will run out of travel. You will need to hold the pitman to wrench on the nut.
Yes that needs to be lined up well or your steering wheel will be off. Also don't turn the steering wheel too much because the clock spring for the airbag will run out of travel.
So I saw this a lot of places and locked the steering wheel in place as best I could with the seatbelt, but it was after the fact. So now given that it's unattached, how do I realign everything? The steering wheel and wheels are currently turned all the way to one side, but I assume just by messing with the pitman arm and steering box I've moved the steering linkage around so it won't be matched up. How do I fix it?
You will need to hold the pitman to wrench on the nut.
So I ordered a 33mm socket and was able to impact the nut off fine, but I'm more worried about how to torque it to spec when putting the new arm on. Do you know of any videos where they show how to hold the pitman arm in place? I tried using a pry bar to keep things from moving but couldn't find any place for leverage.
What is this steering-related component and how badly did I mess up?
