Do I need a dropped pitman arm?

So I picked up a 1990 Dodge truck with a 4" lift. It seems like it has a excessive amount of bump steer. I dont think it has a dropped pitman arm installed. Do ya think I need one??

With the 4" Skyjacker system I put on my '93, it came with a drop pitman arm, to get the drag link level again. Everything I've read says that the drag link needs to be as horizontally level as possible.Drop pitman arm or a raised steering arm are 2 options to correct it. Crossover steering setup is another.

It looks a bit uphill. I will invest in a dropped arm thanks for the reply

My experience with the drop pitman arms for these trucks is that they are not clocked correctly and will give you awesome right turns, not so good left turns.

Id look at the raised arm for the axle instead. Get the arm, not just the spacer block.

Neither one will be 100 percent. GM trucks were the smart ones in that style system. They had an adjustable draglink.

So any ideas as to where i find a raised arm?

Call any reputable suspension company.

Nitro sun, yeah an adjustable drag link would be beneficial.

I recommend the raised arm because of the angle the steering box mounts at. As you drop the pitman the angle forces the drag link end rearward rather than straight down. I've reclocked the pitman a spline or two to things closer to center. If you don't, the extra rearward push is going to throw off the turning angles. Not to mention the steering box won't be centered when driving straight.

The raised arm doesn't do that, it goes straight up.

I agree on most of what you are saying. You can not re-clock the pitman arm unless you are removing all the master splines. Not something I would normally do. That's where the adjustable drag link is desirable. Dodge was always screwed up on this style. Only got better when the 94 trucks went to a crossover design. The older trucks needed a link to tune the alignment. In reality the gear box should be held centered. Then the toe set along with adjusting the drag link to put the wheels driving straight forward. On stock trucks if the wheel was crooked you could pull the wheel and center it. That was only on fixed columns. Tilt was master splined and there were also issues if you tried to modify it with turn signal cam and horn contact ring. Most Dodge 4wd trucks 72-93 were never 100 percent correct.

Not sure what brand came on that truck, but Skyjacker offers a 4" drop pitman arm. They may also have the raised arm. They do have the adjustable drag link; I bought one for the '93 I put my 4" system on to help with getting the wheel "clocked" right again. I actuallly had to cut some from each inside of the adjustable drag link, to get me close to where the wheel needed to be. If I had it to do again, I'd probably do the raised steering arm.

Exactly my point that the adjustable link is beneficial. I actually make up my own adjustable link for the pre 78 trucks, all stock parts from a 2wd. Haven't been able to find a bent link end to fit the newer truck steering box position. And, yes I grind out the master splines on the pitman.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the steering box is the tightest when it's centered (for when you're driving down the highway), and loosens up the farther it goes from there (for slow speed turning in parking lots, it doesn't really matter).

I built an adjustable drag link for that exact reason; to get the box centered and tight when going down the highway.

Correct. One reason i did the adjustable link on the older trucks and why i reclock the arm on the newer trucks. Reclocking isn't perfect but way better than out of the box install.