drop Pittman arm for manual steering?

[Blue coyote]

I need a 4" drop Pittman arm for an 83 Ranger with MANUAL steering.

The splined shaft off the steering box is smaller on the manual boxes than on the power steering boxes, and I think the stock arm will play havoc on my steering geometry with 6" of suspension lift.

Does anyone make a drop arm, or know if the splined shaft would be swappable from a power steering box to the manual one?

[Blue coyote]

Okay, I'll try rephrasing the question...

Anyone know the ballpark cost to have a shop machine up a custom Pittman arm?

or am I looking at having to chop/extend/weld the original for a 4" drop? (I'm aware that this is a bad idea, but if its that or wearing out a set of mudders every time I turn the wheel...)

[Rerard]

I did a search for you and found a bunch of companies that make dropped pitman arms but only for power steering

If your just looking for a price range on having one custom made.. give this place a call:

http://www.extremegearoffroad.com/welcome.htm

They are here in my area so you might not want to have them do it but at least you can get an idea as to what kind of pricerange your looking at.

[Rogue Bronco]

Why not swap power steering into your ride?? Hell ofa way to justify it

[Blue coyote]

Originally posted by Rogue Bronco
Why not swap power steering into your ride??

Because I just swapped the power steering OUT of the truck. (AFAIK, manual steering was never an option on the Bronco II)

I didn't realise that the boxes have a different diameter shaft for the Pittman arm until I tried to install the 4" drop arm I have onto the manual box.

Even with the 32's, a steering damper, and a 12" steering wheel, I just don't need power steering. When I was having problems throwing the belt off the pump, it was a BIT of an effort to deal with, but the manual box is 6 turns lock-to-lock (the power steering box is 4.5 turns lock-to-lock).

It also means that my steering system is completely unaffected if the engine stalls, and its one less toxic fluid to drip/dump on the trail. I also like to do things just a little different...