Needless to say, there's too much slop in it and I'm replacing it. I went out to remove it, and thought I would ask before I damaged something. Removing the nut for the pitman arm, it felt as if I could damage the gear or the steering column if too much force is applied trying to get it off and then back on and torqued down. Is there any chance of breaking something, or can I have at it trying to break it free using the wheel lock as a stop?

 

I replaced the power steering gear box in mine a few weeks ago.

The nut itself came off without very much trouble. Just cleaned all the rust out of the threads and lubricated it with WD-40 before hand.

If it's giving you trouble you could heat it with a torch and then melt a little bit of paraffin in every so often as it's cooling. (That would lubricate the thread.)

An impact gun and a socket ought to spin it off easily.

After you change the gearbox out you'll have a new thread to work with. Clean out any paint and coat it with never sieze. Reinstall the Pitman arm and thread the nut all the way up by hand. Torque it the last little bit with a wrench or whatever.

~ Just some gentle methods so that you don't have to raunch on things too hard in case you're concerned about damaging something up in the steering column. ~

 

The pitman arm nut is torqued to ~200 ft lbs. I'll put a torch on it all day long, but what I'm most worried about is when I go to torque it down when I'm done. I could guess with an impact, but I really don't want to...especially with steering. I'm probably just being too hesitant. If there was any risk in damaging anything the manual would probably give a warning. I appreciate it!