Firmfeel or Steerandgear ?

[Chryco Psycho]

I thought the pitman arm was totally different after 71

[farmboy70]

I have a Firm Feel large shaft box and thier Pitman arm on my car. It alighned fine and what little driving I have done works fine.
I used to use Steer and Geer for the same shipping reasons but had a issue with three boxes in a row. They blamed me for readjusting the boxes after I recieved them Why would I pay them to do it and then mess with the adjustment?
They did eventualy redo the boxes but no labor for me to remove them.
I won't take a chance on them again.
Dave

[shadango]

Now thats not a good thing to hear Farmboy.....about s&g

The difference in shipping and initia cost is minimal compared to if I had to remove and redo the job three times like you did....that would suck.

It just bugs and confuses me that Firm Feel says one way and S&G the other....

[farmboy70]

I'm would think they have their issues worked out by now. That was two years ago,but I won't use them again .
Dave

[500Stroker]

I had posted in May of 2008 that I was installing the FF level 3.  After about 10,000 miles I still love it.  No difference in firmness unlike the S&G I had which started no as firm and got looser with age.

[dodj]

Pitman arm is different, not the centre link.  I talked to both companies and they seem to do the same thing to make the steering boxes  firm, xtra firm etc.. so I think it's whoever is closer to you.
I think it makes things a little confusing when one company is called 'Firm Feel' and one company offers a 'Firm Feel' box

[shadango]

Pitman arm is different, not the centre link. 

But in what way?   S&G says that the pitman arm faces the other way....which would mean a different link...so they are definately wrong?

S&G seems adamant that the 73 WONT work on my car....

FF has yet to reply at all.

I dont think itsa good sign if they are wrong....wouldnt seem to indicate that they know what is going on as far as e bodies......

Looking at the posts, seems that S&G has had more issues than FF.....

But I want to give them a fair shake here.

More importantly I want to be able to get the right box the first time.....

Anyone here using a 73 box on a 72?

[Chryco Psycho]

I have seen some cars with the pitman lower & pointed up through the center link in which case the taper in the center link will be upside down / wrong , most pitmans were on top of the center link pointed down through the link

[shadango]

Pretty sure thats how mine is.....the question is will the 73 box change that at S&G says?

Would feel better if FF would reply back....

[Chryco Psycho]

Well I do not know if the pitmann spline changes with the different pitman arm , I would chck your car & tell S&G exactly what you have to start with

[shadango]

The spline does change (you mean the steering box side right)

The 73 up has a large sector shaft (per Firm Feel) so that part of the arm is definately different....but its also a much less expensive pitman arm....saw this info on the Firm Feel site a day or two ago .....

But..

I am searching the Firm Feel site again and for the life of me cannot find the reference I am talking about.....   

I had copied it to the email I sent to Firm Feel asking about it...it said:

"NOTE : If you own a '62-'72 "B" body or '70-'72 "E" body you can save some money on your pitman arm by using a '73 & later power steering box. In 1973 all A&B&E body cars went to the "large sector" box,( The sector shaft attaches to the pitman arm). The late pitman arm is still readily available at about half the cost! You'll save roughly $75.00 over the cost of the small sector pitman, and there is no problem with installation, clearance or geometry using this large sector set-up on the cars mentioned above."

I swear to god that the reference has disappeared!

[shadango]

Ok I figured out where I saw that paragraph about using a 73 box on a 72.

I had found this page thru Google.  If you go to Firm Feel's main site and then go to power steering it has a different version of this page, without this info....so maybe its just an old page?

Here is where I saw it, to show I aint nuts...LOL   

http://www.firmfeel.com/powerst.htm

Maybe they changed their mind or found a reason not to do it....

[dodj]

But in what way?   S&G says that the pitman arm faces the other way...

The only difference I'm aware of is to accommodate different sector shaft sizes.
Looking at the different pitman arms on the S&G website, large or small sector shafts, they are the same 'arm' shape. Both orient facing down into the centre link.

[shadango]

The guy at S&G insists that the 73 steering box wont work right on a 72.

I have emailed Firm Feel twice now in 3 days and they have yet to get back to me.

Its a pet peeve of mine that if a company has a webiste wit han email address on it (let alone TWO addresses) they should respond quickly.....it really worries me when a company is slow to repond to an email, let alone when I am specifically saying in that email that I asm ready to buy! 

Seems like Firm Feel has the best track record here as far as the actual product.....have you guys had the same experience as far as email? Maybe I caught them at a bad time? 

[farmboy70]

Try calling them, I had a similar time with them using Email.
Dave