Pittman Arm/ safety info

[LKE]

I recently bought a steering box/ pttman arm/ bracket combo for my car, that I was not even impressed with. And see it as a potentially dangerous set up, and wanted to warn you guys. I use vega boxes mounted under the frame. In the past I have used Flaming river vega boxes. Well they are kinda pricey, so I thought I would try and save a few dollars, and I bought one of the repop vega boxes in a kit with a pittman arm and mounting bracket. Well the pittman arm did not fit right. It went on about 1/3 of the way (1/3 of the arms thickness went on). Enough to get the nut on, but no lock washer. I called the company I bought it from, and they sent me a picture of how it should look when installed. Here is that picture...

Supposedly that is how it should look tightened up. Notice the nut is right at the end of the threads, and no lock washer. Now look at this pic I took of my parts. With the nut on as far as thiers, see how much of the shaft would be in the arm...

Not near enough. To add to this, that arm is very soft. I took a small fine file to the back side in one of the splines and pulled on it, and it cut very easy. So you take a soft arm, that barely goes on, with those small splines.... and you are asking for stripped splines.

Today I went to summit racing and picked up a flaming river arm, to see how it fit. And big suprise... it fit properly. here is a pic of the flaming river arm on the other guys box...

and thier arm on thier box...

notice the hammer in the pic. I put a piece of aluminum on the arm, and tapped it on. That is as far as it goes.

Earlier this year, there was some talk about some pittman arms failing. I believe donsrods had an issue. IIRC they were from total perf, and supposedly they quit selling them. Well the chinese plant that made them, probably didnt stop making them... So you guys out there be carefull with what you use on your cars.
And I just want to note, this is not from Speedway. I found this on web, from a street rod mail order house. Is Speedways kit the same ? IDK, but I will bet there isnt a lot of different aftermarket vega arm manufactures out there.

 

[mikesplumbing]

Geez, that's just crazy. That's a great post for me because that's one of the parts I have yet to purchase, thank you so much for posting that.

What did you pay for that? And what does a FR one cost? Just wondering so when I buy one I'll know by the price if it's a good or bad one. Other than that it's pretty hard to tell from a picture.

Shouldn't the arm be a forged part???

Mike

 

[donsrods]

Yep, that is really scary to see that such an important component is not made well. But I guess it's hard to sue a company who is based overseas.

On a related subject, I am not all that convinced Flaming River makes a great reversed Corvair type box either. When I built my T I decided to bite the bullet and spend the extra money for their box rather than use the two Corvair reversed boxes I had laying around.; On my way to Daytona after only putting maybe a couple hundred miles on the car the steering was very stiff when I pulled into a rest stop. Long story short, there was red grease coming out of the splined shaft that goes to the steering wheel. It kept getting stiffer and stiffer the rest of the trip.

At the show I happened to walk by a booth and there was a Flaming River stand set up so I approached the sales manager who was there and told him what I had going on and he arranged to hand me a brand new box there on the provision I would return the defective one when I got home and changed it out........they took my credit card info in case I defaulted. I did change it out and returned the first one to them, so I thought maybe that was just a freak thing.

However, over the past year I have been seeing red grease coming out of the shaft again, so much so that gobs of it are on my engine and frame from being flung when I turn the wheel. Now the steering box is starting to clunk when I turn the wheel from stop to stop. All I have to do is move the wheel from side to side to take up the play and it makes a loud sound.

What really concerns me is that we have a total of 4 of these Flaming River boxes. One on my T, one on my Son's T, one on my other Sons 30 rpu, and one still new in the box waiting to go on my 29 rpu. So far we haven't seen any grease coming from the one on my Sons T, and my other Sons car is not on the road yet. The other thing was that the guy I talked to at Daytona really never had a good reason for what I was experiencing and said they don't leave the red grease in there when they build them, that they come in to them that way and maybe some got missed in the cleaning process. HUH? Then why do I have two boxes from different times both spewing out red grease?

Like I said, I am not real sure about Flaming River at this point.

Don

 

[LKE]

I agree with you somewhat. My last car had a flaming river vega box, and leaked from the very beginning. Never could stop the leaks, At that time the flaming river arms were forgings. Which I liked the shape of. This new one is a steel plate, either plama or laser cut. And for the cost ($75) they shoulda put a minimum wage guy on a belt sander to smooth it out.
I am staying with new boxes though. I just dont care for the reversed older vega boxes, or how they mount on top of the frame.

Hey mike, I got the box, arm, and a mounting braket for $226 with shipping. In speedways catalog, they list their arm at $50. I paid $75 for the flaming river today (part and tax, picked it up locally). I am still way ahead of the approx $400 a new flaming river box is though. I am going to use this box, with the FR arm, and probably make my own bracket. Custom car needs custom parts

 

[mikesplumbing]

Sounds like with the new FR arm it's decent set-up hey? Saving money is always good if you can still be safe. Every time I hear about these darn China parts I get just livid.

My dad own's a manufacturing company that at one point was the 3rd largest solid phenolic producer in the world, average total hourly compensation in the shop was $43.00 and hundreds of folks have depended on my Dad and America since before the great depression. China stepped in and took 80% of it at half the price. Those folks are all jobless right now and the company is tanking. I shouldn't really be talking about this on a car forum but when you posted this thread I couldn't help but think about it.

Like the car part that look the same as a good one, destructive testing reveals the China produced phenolic is 1/2 the quality of my fathers and the companies that screwed all those hard working employees are having many problems right now with China parts...but......the companies are willing to deal with it because of price alone. Funny thing is the retail price never changed.

Whats even worse is the press that makes the phenolic is just sitting there and rotting away now. And all you hot rodders should see how beautifull it is. It's been running non stop since the 1920's. Imagine a machine that's a 100' long and weighs 20 tons, the cast parts look like beautifull art work with scrolls and actual pin striping from the company that originally made it.

Anyhow, sorry about blowing off some steam but when I saw the picture you posted of the part that the company said was fine it just reminded me of the reality of modern America, and the so called progress.

Again, sorry about hijacking you thread.

Mike

 

[benT]

I've been real happy with FR stuff. I have used their steering column, DD shafts, joints, Vega Box and pitman arm. All were new with the exception of the Vega steering box. I bought it off of a guy that rebuilds boxes. He sold me the rebuilt polished Alum one for the same prices as his rebuilt cast steel ones. I've been happy with their stuff, but I don't have as much of it as Don.

 

[fordsbyjay]

Sounds like with the new FR arm it's decent set-up hey? Saving money is always good if you can still be safe. Every time I hear about these darn China parts I get just livid.

My dad own's a manufacturing company that at one point was the 3rd largest solid phenolic producer in the world, average total hourly compensation in the shop was $43.00 and hundreds of folks have depended on my Dad and America since before the great depression. China stepped in and took 80% of it at half the price. Those folks are all jobless right now and the company is tanking. I shouldn't really be talking about this on a car forum but when you posted this thread I couldn't help but think about it.

Like the car part that look the same as a good one, destructive testing reveals the China produced phenolic is 1/2 the quality of my fathers and the companies that screwed all those hard working employees are having many problems right now with China parts...but......the companies are willing to deal with it because of price alone. Funny thing is the retail price never changed.

Whats even worse is the press that makes the phenolic is just sitting there and rotting away now. And all you hot rodders should see how beautifull it is. It's been running non stop since the 1920's. Imagine a machine that's a 100' long and weighs 20 tons, the cast parts look like beautifull art work with scrolls and actual pin striping from the company that originally made it.

Anyhow, sorry about blowing off some steam but when I saw the picture you posted of the part that the company said was fine it just reminded me of the reality of modern America, and the so called progress.

Again, sorry about hijacking you thread.

Mike

If there is any consolation a lot more people are starting to see the light. The question is "is it enough to save companies like your fathers"?