Pitman arm bracket.

[DickWells]

Inspection was due come August, so I waited and set up an appointment for Sept. 1st. Put the GMC up on the Bend Pac and started checking things over a few days prior, and found that the pitman arm shaft had about 3/16' end play. Checked my son's 03 DM and his had none. So, I stopped in at NAPPA and asked for a pitman arm, and they trotted out just that, a pitman arm, with no shaft. Seems they come as two separate items in the 2500-3500. Salesman went back and brought our the bracket. That's better. That's what I need. Got it home and got the old one out and couldn't help but notice that the OEM part had an alluminum housing and the replacement was steel. BTW, the pitman arm they showed me was about twice as heavy as the OEM. Lifetime warrantee, too. The new bracket fits right, and I swear the truck tracks better, too.
Are all the 2500's built with an allum housing for the bracket? Seems kind of light for that size truck.
Dick Wells

[More Power]

Dick,

Do you have a pic of the parts?

Jim

[bwonderlich]

I think what you are describing is the idler arm. which goes on the pass side.
The pitman arm is on the steering sector itself. (a tapered spline that can be a bear to get off sometimes)
I just replaced them both on my 95. It was about $70 for both pieces of the idler arm and about $20 for a pitman arm.
All the originals were steel, no aluminum.
As long as they go 233k like the originals did I'll be happy.