Best Pitman Arm for an LB7

[2003Duramaxlb7]

So far I replaced my original with a name brand from the parts store, 3 weeks later more slop in the wheel.. checked it again pitman arm bad Again, changed it out for a Moog.. Lasted maybe 3 months and now the slop is back again... The change out from the name brand to the moog, i found about 1/4 of the teeth were messed up/gone... Maybe the guy at the shop installed it wrong? Im or i tore it up some how,hitting a pot hole too fast with cheap parts?

I just want to know where to by the best pitman arm,so I can get this done and a nice solid steering wheel again.

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

Sounds like your only fixing half the problem. Almost anytime the pitman is gone, the idler is also bad, and many times the idler support bracket has slop as well. ANY slop in naything else in the system, and it will tear itself apart in no time. ALL of it must be tight if you want ANY of it to last. Even something as simple as play in a tie rod end can lead to idler and pitman problems from the linkage bouncing around.

 

[duramaxdiesel]

What he said. I learned that the hard way.

 

[2003Duramaxlb7]

Idler arm was replaced back when the first pitman arm was replaced, the front end of the truck is pretty much new, tie-rods ball joints and such... I just dont see why, they keep stripping some of the teeth off?

 

[ALLY Fox]

there are 2 different Pitman arms, one has three flat divisions between the splines and the other has four divisions. Any possibility someone put the wrong one on your truck??

 

[2003Duramaxlb7]

Pretty sure we checked all that one we first changed it,everything else I look up via part numbers for my truck it says the 3-groove spline pitman arm..

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

Something is still loose if you continue to tear up pitman arms. And if they are stripping, it is because your not torquing it tight enough.

 

[mike diesel]

So the question I have is...do our trucks use the 3 spline or 4 spline?

 

[Robby05]

3 spline

 

[TheBac]

What are the rest of the specs on the truck? What size tires? Leveling kit? Condition of front hubs? Lots of gravel/rough road driving?

 

[2003Duramaxlb7]

I had the 285/75/16's on there first, then I went back to the stock 245/75/16's
Yes I do construction so the truck takes a beating sometimes going to the Landfill with 7-9k pounds of trash and traveling down there beat up dirt roads.. Front Hub's all seem to be tight and in good shape still..

edit.. There was another guy on the Duramax FB Page, said he had the same problem and used the Moog problem solver pitman arm... I've never heard of it until I looked it up.. So it got me to thinking has anyone else had the same problem.

 

[Electro-02gold1ton]

Put PPE's idler and pitman arms on and the problem will be solved. My brother ruined a brand new stock pitman and idler arm in one day, put PPE's parts on the truck and he has had no problems since. I have same setup on my truck and the front end is solid!

 

[2003Duramaxlb7]

Ya it went to the shop the next day, they ended up putting a Dealer Pitman arm on it.. I took the old one back and come to find out it was the bottom of the chain arm, It should of been a Moog... Its holding up so far, we will see.

 

[TeaBagger2006]

i was having problems snapping my pitman arms... i sheared my factory one then switched to moog problem solver, sheared 2 of those then went back to OEM .. ...now that i think about it i dont know what im running....oem is a better part in my opinion

 

[2003Duramaxlb7]

It would always shear the teeth, from the outside into the middle... Hoping this will take care of it,and no more problems.

 

[duramaxzak]

I have only used GM pitman arm and idler arm assembly's and have never had any issues with them. I ran 35" tires most of the time on mine.

 

[fastpunker]

Moog parts are not anywhere near as good as they used to be.... their quality went down hill.