Topic: anyone heated up and bent a pitman arm?

[shad]

I need a semi-flat pitman arm.
I was wondering if anyone had just heated thiers up with a torch and bent it a little to be less curved and more flat?
Do you see the thing breaking because the temper of the cast is changed a little?

I just don't see paying huge amounts of cash to get a flat one or one with less drop.

[toynorcal]

 

No man, heating and bending your pitman arm is a good way to break a perfectly good pitman arm. Your better off sell the one you have and buying what you need. Try Sky for a flatter pit, they have good cutomer service and prices.

[toybuilt]

I've done it a few times(to mine and some friends) and have had in on the rubicon and fordyce, never have had a problem with it. Been runnin it for about 3 years now.

[crawlerdan]

I've done it a few times(to mine and some friends) and have had in on the rubicon and fordyce, never have had a problem with it. Been runnin it for about 3 years now.

ya, toybuilt and i have done this a few times, ive been known to even cut and reweld, and ive never had a problem, and i beat stuff silly like, i do not however recomend road driving these trucks...

[IronClad]

doooeeeeeittt i personally know a set of stock  steering arms thathave been bent up for hysteer that have taken a pounding of 38" tires and up for the past 6 years and just NOW bent a bit  because he hit a  big rock at 45mph..  they are still in use to this day !   the pitman arm and the  steering arms are the same stuff..  and if you do the proper heating and cooling you should have no problems

[kneedownnate]

So what's the proper heating and cooling method?  I thought about heating and bending mine, then welding a gusset on and having them cryoed.

[IronClad]

heat them up nice and hot with a rose bud and then to cool them  pack them in sand and cool them as slow as you can.. if anything after you bend them toss them in a oven for a while at like 250 and then pull them out and let them cool packed in sand or whatever.

[toynorcal]

Guess I stand corrected... 6 Years is a long time to last after that kind of alteration. IronClad is dead on about the cooling. I would just still be pretty leary about it though. More so if its a DD. I think I would rather just spend that extra dollar and buy some piece of mind for when I'm changing lanes on the highway. That way I know it's my steering box welds that are gonna fail, not my pit arm.

[FIREBALL]

Ya, the best way is to buy one built, BUT, i've built many rigs for myself and others where i've heated and bent the steering arms and the pitman arm and i've never had one fail.
Like ironclad said, the key is in very slow cooling.