Good conversation thread, to solve some parts issues and post updated results.

I can't add any details to this, but I just sold my last 95 Crown Vic to a neighbor. It had the 1997 CVPI steering box I swapped into it, those had a really quick ratio, much faster than the pre-97 models. I loved it for steering fast in tight spaces, mailboxes, and turning around.

The 90's VC's were all front steer I believe, so I bet none of those have usable steering parts for the mid 70's rear steer Fords. I wish they could work, those are obviously common and the police versions are top notch.

Edit: The part number is D70C-3590-AB

hopefully it doesn't come to this, over not being able to replace a worn Pitman, or the Borgeson Pitmans may be a solution IDK? Compton posted this to a member's project thread, i'll just drop it here in it's entirety so as not to omit something pertinent, and a direct link to the Borgeson Pitman arm page

https://www.borgeson.com/Pitman-Arms/" rel="nofollow - https://www.borgeson.com/Pitman-Arms/

Compton wrote: Just saw in your post from April that you were on the hunt for a better steering box…got a Borgeson 800128 in mine…bolt in…14 to 1 ratio…some places say it’s for 71-73 mustang but the Borgeson site lists it as Ford Cars 65-77…bit more pricey than adapting junk yard bits but easy install…

Spoke with Glen at Rare Parts this week, and they are looking for 1-2 samples. 

Should be able to offer a rebuild service. 

Need to send in samples for their review.

With that said, another thing that comes to mind, is in talking to Rare Parts, they do a lot of Pitman Arm reconditioning for the mustang markets and there were a lot of times they would see Mustang steering boxes come in with full size ford pitman arms. 

Thanks for looking into this Andy.

The Saginaw and Ford steering boxes use the same pitman arm. Only the manual steering cars had a different pitman arm.

Here are some OEM part numbers:

D2OZ-3590-A 1972-74 (manual steering only, does not interchange with P/S)

D2OZ 3590-B 1972-1974 (P/S cars only)

D7OZ 3590-A 1975 - 1976 (P/S only)

D7OZ 3590-B 1977-79 (P/S only)

For the aftermarket parts, 1972-76 is listed as one part number, so I am not sure why Ford had an updated part number for 1975 and 1976.  I am assuming based on the D7OZ part number it was an updated arm. The aftermarket lists the 1977-79 arm as a different part number.  I am not sure what is different, but there was obviously some revision that took place, as otherwise the aftermarket would have made one part to cover 1972-79. 

Here are the old Moog part numbers, which shows the 1972-76 as one part number and the 1977-79 as another.  Like I said, this suggests there is some significant difference on the 1977-79 pitman arm, otherwise the aftermarket would have consolidated it to one part number.

1972-76 - K8217

This website shows it also fits the larger Thunderbirds and Lincoln Mark IVs of that time.

https://partshawk.com/moog-k8217-steering-pitman-arm.html" rel="nofollow - https://partshawk.com/moog-k8217-steering-pitman-arm.html

1977-79:  K8256

This website shows it fits the 1977-79 Mark V as well as LTDII, Thunderbird, Cougar, Ranchero, etc:

https://www.finditparts.com/products/403388/moog-k8256#description" rel="nofollow - https://www.finditparts.com/products/403388/moog-k8256#description

I like the Lares 841 box, and they are selling brand new 841's as well due to lake of parts. 

Only thing I have ever had issue with is the 841 at speed can be twitchy at times. 

Wonder how many turns lock to lock that Borg box is?

Does anyone know the ratio of the 841 box?  I don't think Lares ever published it.  

My 12.7:1 Saginaw felt a little twitchy at times, until I had the T-bar updated.  The stiffer T-bar gave a ton more road feel and the twitchiness was completely gone.  That is what I like about the Saginaw box, they are easy to tune.  

I think 14:1 would be fine too, it just depends on how Borgson tuned the box.  Once I got the road feel dialed in on mine, 12.7:1 was definitely not too quick.  Keep in mind the linkage on the Torinos increase the actual steering ratio over the box steering ratio.

It looks like there is a -A, -B, -C, -D, -E, and -F for the full D3OZ kits. 

-A and -F list the D3OZ 3590-B Army assy - Pitman

-B, -C, -D, and -E list D2OZ 3590-B Arm assy - Pitman

Does anyone know the difference between these, or is it just part #s kits being superseded?

They may not be the same.  I don't see those parts listings in my parts catalog, so I cannot confirm one way or another.  Just because the only the letter at the end is different doesn't necessarily mean they are the same part or a revised part.  For example the 1972 Pitman arms show the manual pitman arm as D2OZ 3590-A, and the P/S as D2OZ 3590-B.  So only the letter is different, but they are completely different pitman arms that will not interchange.

D20A-3B153

It originally had a 429 engine that was swapped out with a 351C, but I don't think that matters

It has the Ford integral power steering gear box.

Does that part number sound right to anyone?

D = 1970's

2 = year of the decade, 1972

3B153, this portion of the number is the same for every similar part. see here,

https://www.fordification.com/tech/partnumbers_overview.htm" rel="nofollow - https://www.fordification.com/tech/partnumbers_overview.htm

That part number, D2OA 3B153 is listed in the parts catalog as the original part number, ie the factory part original to the car.  The other part numbers I have listed in this thread are the replacement part numbers.  FWIW, the catalog lists the original part numbers as follows:

D20A 3B153 - AA

I'm guessing some other common vehicle must use the same arm as manual steering Gran Torinos, considering that I'd venture to guess that most of our cars came with power steering as standard equipment. Not sure why else the less commonly needed part for our cars is plentiful but the more commonly needed part is unobtainable. 

Inkara1 wrote: Not sure why else the less commonly needed part for our cars is plentiful but the more commonly needed part is unobtainable.

probably because the NOS New Old Stock is still in the supply chain, as they're bought up they will also go unobtainium

i'll have to get one before that happens

I would think Rock is correct, they are all NOS, not being produced at all.  The PS pitman arm supply likely got used up quickly due to the PS being far more common on these cars. 

What I would like to know is what is different about the 77-79 pitman arm.  When I was searching earlier, I came across a couple of NOS 77-79 arms.  We need someone who has a parts car to compare the two. Wasn't there some parting out a Cougar?

Issues is the castings that are not being made.

As fas as info. I am going to update the contact info for Glen at Rare parts so whom ever has a factory pitman arm or aftermarket arm, can get with Rare parts and send into them for a rebuild. 

The issue we have currently is no companies are making the forged part for the pitman arm. 

That only leaves either finding NOS, or sending an arm off to be reconditioned.

Rare Parts has been reconditioning arms for the Mustang market for decades.

Me: Good Afternoon, I was looking at the 800128 steering box and saw it's a 14:1 box. Is this like the old Saginaw SPAT series box 71-73 mustangs used with the variable ratio? or just a fixed 14:1. 

The only options now seem to be getting a good used pitman arm, or having an original rebuilt.  I don't know if there is a enough demand for an aftermarket company to start making new forgings.  That said, there still are some NOS parts out there but they are hard to find.

I think the answer though is the rebuild service offered by rare parts. I know nobody likes to have a car down and undrivable, but until a business could accumulate enough usable cores to have rebuilt and then keep in stock, waiting on the process seems like it's unavoidable.

I really doubt any corporation will pour money into forging new arms. Too little demand IMO to make it profitable.

Hi everyone,

I built a small matrix for Power Steering with the P/N from the Ford 1973-1979 parts catalog.

It lists D20Z 3590-B for most of the kits, but two engines have D30Z 3590-B (250 6 cylinder and 351 4B).  The Catalog lists Torino and LTD II in the same matrix.

Power Steering Installation Kits
Year	Model	Cylinder	Engine	Pump Kit	Pitman Arm
73	B	6	250	D30Z 3A635-A	D30Z 3590-B
73	B-A/C	8	302	D30Z 3A635-C	D20Z 3590-B
73	B-W/O A/C	8	302	D30Z 3A635-B	D20Z 3590-B
73	B-A/C	8	351	NA	NA
73	B-W/O A/C	8	351-2b	D30Z 3A635-E	D20Z 3590-B
73	B-W/O A/C	8	351w-2B	D30Z 3A635-D	D20Z 3590-B
73	B-W/O A/C	8	351-4B	D30Z 3A635-F	D30Z 3590-B
73	B	8	400,429,460	NA	NA
74	B-W/O A/C	8	302	D40Z 3A635-B	D20Z 3590-B
75	B	8	ALL	NA	NA

I can't decide if I should hold on to it since I'll never be able to find another, or if I should sell it.

Whatever you decide, don't throw it out.  If you don't keep it as a spare, at lease put it up for sale in the forum.  I try to keep a stock pile of extra parts, especially the hard to find ones, for my car. 

I picked up a spare pitman arm for my sister's '73 Gran Torino.

D30A 3B153 (power steering)

-Chris

I replaced mine with an NORS (new old replacement stock) pitman arm when I did my Lares 841 upgrade.

I will update back when I can.

Side note: 

Man, Chevy/GM trucks seem to break a lot of pitman arms, YouTube is loaded with nothing but videos on repairing broken bow tie stuff 

Sounds great Andy!  Let us know how the rebuilding goes.

Does anyone on the forum need a pitman arm?  We can keep a look out for one.

-Chris

Andy,

I went ahead and sent this spare pitman arm I have off to Rare Parts.  I spoke with Glen this week and he said they definitely do the remanufacturing of the Torino P/S pitman arms now.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks,
Chris

I’ve had one I’ve been wanting to send out to Glenn but I’ve been dealing with too many proverbial irons in my fire.

Quick update.  I sent off a Gran Torino power steering pitman arm to Rare Parts.

The process was very easy, and they turned around the part in just a couple of weeks.

Glen at Rare Parts told me they have seen an increase in Torino requests and now setup to reman these - thanks Andy!

Note - you do need to send them a core in order for them to reman the part.

He explained their process is:

Vince,

Here is the reman listing:

https://www.rareparts.com/RP20135A-20135-PITMAN-ARM-MUST-HAVE-CORE-TO-REMAN" rel="nofollow - https://www.rareparts.com/RP20135A-20135-PITMAN-ARM-MUST-HAVE-CORE-TO-REMAN

They also charge for the return shipping & tax.

Thanks,

Chris