68-9 Dart with big block, Pitman arm fiasco HELP :(

1st question, Did they ever offer the cars with power steering ?

2nd question what size was the sector shaft on the manual steering boxes ???The manual box in the car (68 GTS) measures 1.125

I have a pitman arm that was purchased from rare parts for a 383 Dart (per them) but is for a 1.250 sector ARRRGGGHHHHH!!!!

Thanks in advance

No punctuation made the title confusing.

Looked in the 69 parts book for the 383 A body manual steering and power steering. they are both the same part number, 3004809.

Looked in the 68 parts book for the 383 A body manual steering and power steering. they are both the same part number, 2535536.

Thanks, fixed the punctuation, Can anyone else shed some light on this

Thanks

..............just DO it!!

I went and looked up the steering box itself, no special call out for 383 Dart with manual steering however the power box is different in both years, but there aren't any small sector power boxes that I am aware of.

So, I'm gonna say the parts book show large sector

Also the hose and 90 degree adapter are A-Body big block only. I have power steering in my 69 GTS 383 4-speed factory and the pitman arm is definitely different for 68 and 69, had a hard time getting one for my 69 back 35 years ago...

Go to Bigblockdart.com Its all on the tech pages https://www.bigblockdart.com/techpages/linkage.shtml

I don't see anything there regarding the pitman arms that were specific to the 68-9 A bodies

Exactly what questions remain?

Initially the question was, what was the correct sector shaft size for the steering box. Rare parts, whom I ordered the first one from says it's 1.250
The car has a 1.125 shaft with a manual box.
Per Firm Feel the correct size is 1.125.
1. I am believing this as FF they only deal in Mopar parts.
2. That is what the car has and it is supposed to be original.

For anyone who needs to know, Firm Feel does have the correct 1.125 pitman

Thanks

And I only ask because I could go up in the attic and find mine and measure it if you really needed it. Otherwise, I'd rather no go up there.

Let me know. Leaving shortly for the week so I could be a while too.

Manual steering boxes are almost always small sector. I think there might have been some large sector manual boxes used in C body or vans but I can't say I've ever seen one.

You don't need "rare parts" for that car. Off the shelf Moog parts that you buy from Summit or NAPA should work just fine.

Thanks but the new pitman from Firm Feel is installed and fits fine

Not when it comes to the big block pitman arm, trust me, I found out the hard way. Some applications list them as fitting but the sector shaft splines are "clocked" differently on the BB arms. It causes the center link to no longer be centered to the oil pan. In addition One has to screw the R tie rod ends all the way in and the left ones out to get the steering box centered

That sounds like a stupid design. Are you sure that is what you want to do with your car? I have a big block A body car and I used Moog parts right out of the catalog. I centered the tie rod ends like they should be and everything works just fine.

Not sure if this will help...

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthread...97/68-69-a-body-383-only-pitman-arm.html

I just went to Moog's website They do not show a listing for a 383 pitman arm, Every engine but, Napa lists the same arm for all engines, however they do show a rare parts one that is WRONG, it is a LARGE sector pitman. If you have one that works great, The one's I had were either a large sector or clocked wrong which threw the rest of the steering linkage off center.
Per Firm Feel, the BB A body pitman is different, small sector and clocked differently that the other applications. That is the case with this car as well

1971 and on boxes had a different size shaft are you sure the steering box is original?

That’s for 73 and up A, B, E bodies.

In 73 they got the large output sector power steering boxes.

Ok wasn't sure about the year but someone could have done a swap.