Drop Pitman Arm

Does anyone know if the drop pitman arms from a 76+ CJ will fit on my '73 cj5. In parts catalogs they have the same steering box I think, but the pitman arms are not. The reason I ask is because the 76+ arms are like half the price.
...or if you know of another OEM pitman arm from a different vehicle that will work like a drop pitman on my jeep.
I do know a high steer setup would be ideal, but on a budget for now. Thanks!

 

I dont think that will work. The 76+ gear is attached at an angle (frame rails are angled) where the pre-76 gear mounts straight (frame rails are parallel). But on both setups the pitman arm points straight forward, and the splines are keyed to force it that way.

If you put a later arm on an earlier box the arm will angle to the left when the gear box is set with equal turns left to right. Then it will not have linear behavior or equal turning radius left vs right.

You should get the right arm. Or flip just the drag link. Flip the tie rod later if you want.

How much lift do you have?

 

I think some have ground out the key in the later arm. Maybe that'll work. But that nice broad key for sure wont fail even if other splines want to. Maybe more of an assembly convenience than a safety necessity. Others may offer their experiences.

 

Thanks, so basically the box is the same, but because of the mounting angle the pitman arms have to compensate to make it level?
I am doing a spring over lift, APX 4-5 inches so I can't do the flip. High steer is the proper solution but I don't have the budjet for that any time soon and just want to get it rolling again. The other apx100-150 solution would be a Z drag link but the overall opinion online seems to be they suck because they don't help bumpsteer. This will be a 90% off-road jeep so I'm not to concerned about it.

 

I don't know the answer to your specific question, but I do know that a wrangler pitman arm will fit on just about any saginaw box. You may need to take a triangular file and make double spline out of the big single clocking one, but then you can center it wherever you need to. I did. Its easy.

 

Thanks

 

I happen to have a spare drop Pitman arm for my 75 with PS..