73 Ranchero GT

Your car should use the smaller 11" (10.72") rotors with the 5x4.5" bolt pattern.  The larger 12"  (11.72") rotors with the 5 x 5" bolt pattern were only used by police vehicles and fullsize cars.  There are two bearing sizes for these rotors, and the 1972-73 cars use the small bearings while the 1974-76 use the large bearing.  Make sure you check the bearing size before you order your rotors are it is possible a very late 1973 car could have the larger bearing or someone swapped it over the years to the more common later design.

The small bearing rotors were getting hard to find for a while, but RockAuto shows that they have Raybestos 6026 in stock now.  All the differences are explained of the forum here:

As for the pitman arms, they were available some years ago, but it seems the supply has dried up.  How badly worn is yours?  You could check eBay for NOS parts or someone on here might have a used one.

For the ignition switch, you can try to source used (again someone here might have one) or you can try to find an NOS part:

I'd find an ignition switch that is new, used parts are mighty critical for some things. If a later model part is more available, then that would be more desirable in the long run, modifying the connector or wiring would be a minor issue.

Fixing the older cars is becoming much harder due to parts availability. It's time for everyone who owns an old car to create a build book, which should list all non original components. That would be precious for any owner or mechanic to be able to work on the car.

The pitman arm has to be available in some form for some car that is usable. I haven't needed to work on my complete one yet, so far it's all intact and works fine. I expect to be hunting for these kinds of parts too.

Get the new rotors quickly, those are so unique to some models, it can be many years before they make them again, or never do.

Ford            D2OZ-3590-A 

Rare Parts   20398

PST            PIT18775

The rare parts pitman arm listed the following specs:

32 spline

sector shaft diameter 1.125"

center to center lenght 5.5"

I have the Ford steering gear box (2 bolt cover). 

I believe the manual steering pitman arm is for a Saginaw steering box with 35 splines. I am guessing the ball joint might be the same for both, and if so, I may be able to remove the joint from the manual steering pitman arm and install it in the pwr steering pitman arm. Just a guess, it will cost me the price of manual str pitman arm to find out. What I don't know is if the joint can be pressed out without damaging it. 

Thanks

Staci

this is getting interesting. it's only 1/8" right? 

how will the idler like being forced or short traveled 1/8"?

will a mismatched pitman & idler affect the Ackerman?

That is disappointing that no one has an arm available.  This web page shows the cross references to other brand's part numbers:

You can try searching by part number for other brands and see if any old stock comes up.  Sometimes on eBay NOS aftermarket parts pop up.  I also checked with Kanter Auto to see if they had one, as they have parts for many antique cars that are otherwise obsolete.  It shows it's out of stock and unavailable too.  I emailed Kanter to see if they'd be willing to carry them again as there is a group of us restoring these cars.  Maybe you could try contacting rare parts to ask the same.

FWIW, last year brake rotors were basically no longer available as well.  Now they seem to be back in stock again.  So maybe this is a supply chain issue.

In the meantime, you should post a wanted ad in our classified section for a used pitman arm. Several members have parts cars and someone might have a pitman arm that is still in good shape.

So far, I have searched for:

TRW 18776

Moog K8217

Perfect Circle 268-1582

Affinia FA957

Midas PA1020

D2OZ-3590-A

D5OZ-3590-B

D7OZ-3590-A

I contacted Moog via emai and received basic boiler plate response. They will let me know if it becomes available. 

I called, Rare Parts, they said it's obsolete.

The problem with most parts stores is the part is still in their catalogs / computer but is unavailable.

I tried

Thanks,

Chris

Don't the specs say the sector shaft diameter is different from one to the other or am I reading that wrong?