[Keith True]

The shortened arm makes a difference.Much easier after.I've installed maybe a dozen or so.The man I worked for in the early 70's used to install them that was already made.He said it was a Ford truck pitman,but I've never seen a part number for one.He did them in the 40's,50's,etc,so it probably was an aftermarket part.A long lever works easy one way,if the other end is pushed it can be harder.If you reach down to the table with your arm and try to push a 5 pound bag of sugar,it will push hard.If you fold your arm,and push it with your elbow,it is much easier.Same idea as the shorter pitman arm.I've heard people insist the steering radius is reduced with the short arm.If the spindles hit the stops with the long arm,and they also hit the stops with the short arm,how can the radius be reduced? As one guy put it to me,I dunno,but it just is.He was an armchair expert,everything he read he accepted as gospel,but he refused to believe his own eyes.I've only done shortened arms on 2 tooth boxes,none on the 7.I did have a guy tell me his spindles had hit the stops with the long arm,but no longer with the short.He had a 7 tooth box.He said it was no big deal to him,he never turned the wheels to full lock anyway.He said that if he turned the wheels to full warp it was just too hard to bring them back the first couple of inches.Any broken welded parts I have seen have been the fault of the welder,not from the fact that something was welded.I buy the redone ones for customers,the only reason being it takes me a while to do it,and it is cheaper to buy the part than to pay me for 2 hours to clean,cut,grind,fit,tack,check,weld,grind,check again and paint.If you ever ran the highways between southern Maine and N.J.in the 50's,60's,and early 70's you met a lot of B model Macks with shortened and welded pitman arms.One outfit alone that I know of did over 100 of them. The pitman arm though is NOT the place to learn how to use your $299.Harbor Freight welder.