Pitman arm issue?

[b5cuda]

Hello gang, dum question. I had to disconnect the drag (center) link to work on oil pan, and when I went to reattach it to the pitman arm, the threaded stud in the pitman wants to turn. Is there a trick to tightening it down, or does this mean I need a new pitman arm? Thanks in advance!

[bdschnei]

If you have an impact gun, just use that to spin the nut onto the pitman arm ball stud while applying a little manual pressure pushing the center link onto the pitman arm stud. You might want to use a pry bar or something to help with that. 3/8" guns work best for this but 1/2" will work as well. You don't want to torque the nut down using the impact though. As soon as the nut snugs up put down the impact and use a torque wrench and torque the nut to spec.
Unless of course the joint is just worn out in which case the pitman arm needs to be replaced. There shouldn't be any lateral movement in the joint.

[b5cuda]

Thanks Bret! The pitmn arm has only 150 miles on it. So if I can manage to stablize the stud and tighten down that nut, it should be OK?

[MoparLeo]

tapered hole in the center link.

[bdschnei]

Yep, should be fine.

[b5cuda]

You guys were right! Borrowed an impact wrench, used a big channel lock, and presto! Worked like a charm Thanks for the advice!