Originally Posted by jakvette

Hi ,

Not sure why everyone says remove the pitman arm , unless i am misunderstanding what everyone is saying .

Get yourself a quality ball joint splitter, not a pickle fork ,put it on the ball joint where the valve is joined to the pitman arm , tighten the long bolt and it should break the joint . If it gets really hard to turn the bolt and you feel its going to break or damage something leave it under tension and just give the side of the pitman arm a good blow with a hammer , the shock should break the joint .

Dont forget the way your hoses came off , its important . Unscrew the valve from the steering shaft , fit a new kit , grease the joint and re-fit . Dont forget to centre the valve once you have the engine running and have bled the power steering .

See Jim Shea's thread on power steering , follow his way of doing the job correctly and you wont have any problems at all .

John

Originally Posted by SuperBuickGuy

the valve threads onto the steering linkage, so you have to remove the pitman arm to unthread the valve. Could you rebuilt it on the car? yes, could you also lose all those cool little pieces that would simply sit in the valve if you took it off and rebuilt it on your bench? that depends - on how familiar you are with a b**tard-child named Murphy.

Originally Posted by rafalc

Don't mean to steal the thread but I'm doing the same job right now. I just unbolted everything today, disconnected the hoses and will be taking the valve off the next few days.

There is a load of grime and dirt all over the valve, damper and hoses. What is the best way, best product to clean all the components. Can I dip everything in something to make sure the grime and dirt that made its way into the hoses while unscrewing them gets flushed out?

I just want to be careful as to not put cleaning products where they're not supposed to go.

Thanks

Originally Posted by Mr.Green

The Harbor freight ball joint seperator worked great, no issues. I took me a few tries to find a good spot. I settled with moving the wheels all the way over to the right. It took no time at all to get it off.


I hope the picture helps.

Originally Posted by Tom454

Did that tool damage the seal?

Originally Posted by ted13b

I found the perfect solution. I went to Harbor Freight and found a puller labelled for ball joints. Rather than the usual 2 or 3 hook style puller, it consists of a plate with a slot that slides in between the idler arm and valve, and a lever that goes extends over the contol valve stud. A bolt threads in from the bottom. Tighten the bolt and it pops apart with a bang. $20! Awesome! Here's a link:
http://www.harborfreight.com/3-4-qua...tor-99849.html

Originally Posted by 67427

At your recommendation, I bought one and used it last weekend...Start cranking the wrench and BANG! the ball stud pops out! It surprised me how quickly everything came apart...I didn't even use liquid wrench or anything like it. NO need. Thanks again!

Originally Posted by ted13b

I found the perfect solution. I went to Harbor Freight and found a puller labelled for ball joints. Rather than the usual 2 or 3 hook style puller, it consists of a plate with a slot that slides in between the idler arm and valve, and a lever that goes extends over the contol valve stud. A bolt threads in from the bottom. Tighten the bolt and it pops apart with a bang. $20! Awesome! Here's a link:
http://www.harborfreight.com/3-4-qua...tor-99849.html

Originally Posted by aussiejohn

Ted and Black C3,

The secret to using a hammer is to use TWO hammers or even a hammer and an axe! You need to rest the second hammer or axe head against one side of the Pitman arm adjacent to the control valve stud and whack the side 180 degrees away with the first hammer.

This action "shocks" the Pitman arm and causes it to let go of the stud and it should just fall out, providing you've removed the nut on the end.

Try it, and come back to me if it doesn't work.

Regards from Down Under.

aussiejohn