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Need Help Dropping "Drag Bar" For Oil Pan Clearance

pdiz

pdiz

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I tend to get longwinded, so I'll spare the details (you wouldn't believe the story anyway).

Trying to remove the oil pan on my 73 Road Runner as there are foreign objects in my crankshaft area. :icon_hang: Managed to get oil-pan bolts out and pan dropped using one of those tools you hammer on to break the seal. Center link/drag link bar is in the way, obviously. Shop manual mentions two specialized tools to remove various steering components. Do I need these to drop the drag bar? And does "dropping" it mean removing it, or just lowering it? The goal is to remove the oil pan.

Read somewhere to only remove the castle bolts at the pitman arm and idler arm, not the tie rod ends. Well, I have all four castle bolts and cotter pins removed from the bar. Is this right? I'm armed with a pickle fork and sledgehammer, no other specialized tools (other than standard tools). I'm willing to buy or rent tools if need be, just don't know what to get.

Can someone "mansplain" the procedure like I'm five years old? I presume this bar has to come all the way out or at least rotated out of the way (I don't see how, though). Also, I can't rotate the engine for any clearance as there are foreign objects somewhere in the crankshaft area and I don't want the parts to hurt the engine. Again, long unbelievable story on that.

Thank you in advance for any help.
 
I believe what they are looking for is once u drop the center link you will have the clearence. either pickle fork the pitman and idler or do what i do and just rap or shock the joint loose with your hammer so u dont mess up your boots
 
I also 'body work' those parts when I'm trying to save the boots. Just need to back up your hammer blows with another hammer. You usually don't have to whack em that hard either. Matter of fact, it's been so long since I've used that evil pickle fork that I don't even know where it's at anymore.
 
Thanks for all your help guys. I will probably buy the tool because it's on jackstands and there's not a lot of room under there to comfortably swing a hammer, much less hold a hammer and hit it with another. I already jacked the boots up trying to use a pickle fork, but the car is on its original suspension anyway, so need to install a kit I suppose while I'm under it.

Okay, dumb question, but if the cotter pins and castle nuts are removed, what's keeping the drag link up there? Looks like it's on good! Is it slightly warped from years of use, or stuck on the boots and/or both?
 
The studs and holes are a tapered fit. That's why a puller is required, or the finesse of a BFH.
 
pdiz said:
Thanks for all your help guys. I will probably buy the tool because it's on jackstands and there's not a lot of room under there to comfortably swing a hammer, much less hold a hammer and hit it with another. I already jacked the boots up trying to use a pickle fork, but the car is on its original suspension anyway, so need to install a kit I suppose while I'm under it.

Okay, dumb question, but if the cotter pins and castle nuts are removed, what's keeping the drag link up there? Looks like it's on good! Is it slightly warped from years of use, or stuck on the boots and/or both?
Click to expand...

The drag link is staying up because the shafts going into it are 'cone shaped'. Tightening the castle nuts simply drives it on hard during assembly.

As for the boots...applying a bit of grease to the forks on the tool may reduce the potential of damage to said boots. Once both sides are free, the bar can be pulled down and out of the away by hand. You will need to push the trailing side of each wheel out to get it to drop significantly.

Don't worry about alignment...all you have done at this point is remove the steering linkage to the wheels from their pivot points which are staionary to the car. No alignment will need to be done once everything is reassembled.

Now...what got dropped in the motor? Hope you find it!...ALL of it?
 
Dako, thank you for going into detail. A lot of times when one works on unfamiliar parts of the car, one tends to get hung up on the little things. I wouldn't have thought about pushing the wheels out to help the bar drop.

Let me ask, is the Wilmar puller the best one for this application, or were you just referencing the "type" of tool? I ended up going to AutoZone (I know, I know, but it was on the way home from work) and they had one there (probably Chinese). Well, at least they would have, but the shelf was empty. I had to order it, but at least I can pick it up tonight. Hopefully it doesn't break apart. I made sure it wasn't the "for import/compact cars" one, at least, which of course was in stock.

As far as the story of what dropped in there, I will post it tonight, but be forewarned, it is physics-defying and will sound like a fake story and that some invisible force is out to get me.

Thanks to EVERYONE who responded, you all are giving me the confidence to do this (even if it's not a big deal to you guys, it's all new to me). I may even buy a suspension kit (after the beast is running) and install it myself now.
 
Pdiz,

Glad to be of some help. A lot of these tasks seem daunting until they are actually done the 1st time. For me, I still don't have a rear end gear swap under my belt. Most everything else I have tackled at least once.

For future reference...If you need, or suspect there is, a special tool for a particular task, ask the guy at the counter of any chain parts house if they have a 'loaner tool' or tool set. They loan these out at no charge...well, okay, they put it on your credit card, but once you bring it back they also refund the whole amount. You don't even have to buy a part to 'borrow' the tools.
 
Okay, guys, here's tonight's update:

Armed with the AutoZone OEM-brand pitman arm puller, I finagled the "jaws" under the boot of the pitman arm (maybe I should do this at the idler arm?) and turned the puller bolt with a socket until... it twisted off the pitman arm bolt a few dozen times. I also tried it on an inner tie rod a few dozen times. The tool just doesn't seem to stay steady on the bolt. I know it's not rocket science, but am I supposed to hit the bolt of the tool with a BFH once it's tightened up bolt-to-bolt? There aren't any instructions, and the darn tool just twists off and never seems to "grasp" onto the drag-link bar very tightly. In the videos I've seen, I don't see the tool moving all over the place like in my case. The jaws of the tool almost seem too big for the drag link, actually, as the tool moves quite a bit as I turn the bolt. Am I missing something? The "jaws" of the tool do go right on the drag link (under the rubber boots), right?

Hope this message is coherent. Going on four hours sleep. Girlfriend is on Chantix to stop smoking and she kept having bizarre dreams that kept waking me up all night. Finally had to sleep in another room!
 
i have actually taken off and put back on my entire centerlink at least 4 times in the last week dealing with headers, removing then re-installing my steering box during an engine swap. i have brand new front end parts and boots on everything. i have wacked the idler arm , the pitman arm and both inner tie rod ends all with my trusty pickle fork and have not ripped or damaged one boot. two wacks each with my BFH and they are free. i wouldnt even be screwing around with the puller you got . dont be scared of a pickle fork , it works wonders in seconds flat. a pickle fork is tapered on one side, and when used correctly you wont damage the boots. one or two solid wacks and it will pop free. i never mess with the threaded end of the arms or ends even with the nut partially threaded on....my 2 pennies worth.
 
It will take some finagling....you got the fixed two jaw tie rod puller right???.....the pitman arm puller will likely be too large.

Btw just rebuilt the front and rear suspension and gear swap (and installed Sure Grip) in my '69 'Net, you will need special tools if you're gonna go as far as pulling control arms to replace bushings etc....or at least some beefy threaded rod and the right deepwell socket. Ball joints are pretty straight forward. And I cannot stress enough how awesome a FSM is.....made everything sooooo much better. They have pictures and everything :D Also torque specs and setting for when you glue and tape everything back together.
 
I will give the pickle fork/BFH another try.

Or, how about I just fly you out roundtrip to beautiful Southern California for a day, give you a day's pay and free beer, and when I get back from the local pub in a few hours it will just be done? :angryfire:
 
I do not have the tie rod puller, it's indeed a pitman arm puller. Oops... Just realized that the pitman arm puller is not for the area where I'm trying to pull. Seems obvious now. Ugh... :sign12:

I do have an FSM and even read it, lol! Like I said, it mentioned using some Chrysler factory tools which I didn't have, nor have any idea what they were talking about (no photos of tool(s)). It was something like, "Using tool, part # blah blah, separate idler arm from centerline". Umm, okay... Heh.

451Coronet, you sound pretty versed with the hard stuff, cool. I want to eventually put higher (numerically) gears and a SureGrip in my car, and would LOVE to do the suspension myself. One day.
 
Not sure what happened to my last couple of messages.

Anyway, yes, I've owned the FSM for almost as long as I've owned the car, it's just that it mentioned some special tools and was pretty generic: (paraphrasing) "Using tool part # blah blah, separate idler arm from center link."

And, oops... :eek: I do have the wrong tool. I have the pitman arm puller. Now that I think about it, it's obvious it's not for the side of the pitman arm I'm pulling. Darn it. Will get the correct tool tomorrow and/or try the pickle fork/BFH method again.
 
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