Yesterday I replaced the idler arm and the pitman arm on my 2006, 3500, DRW, Silverado. I got a real big surprise when I started to remove the pitman arm. The 1 5/16 nut & lock washer were loose and I was able to remove them with my fingers. The pitman arm was still tight on the gearbox spline, but it sure put a knot in my stomach finding the nut loose. The truck has 200k miles on it and has never had the pitman arm removed before.

Has anyone else has had a similar issue with the pitman arm nut on a Silverado? I think that it would be a good idea for anyone with a similar truck to check the tightness of this nut. If the pitman arm should fall off the steering gear box it could easily cause a fatal accident.

John