2001 Silverado Pitman arm ???

I have a 2001 4x4 with 66,000 miles on it. Last month or so I noticed the truck was pulling to the left so i rotated the tires and that didnt work. Well to make a long story short I decided to jack up the left side and check the hub and ball joints and such. What I found is that the pitman and idler arm are worn out!!!!! Here is my question is there a way to get the pitman arm off without a special puller??? In order for me to order the parts i need i have to remove the pitman to see if it is a 3 or 4 spline? So the truck will sit and snowmobile season is right around the corner. Any ideas to make this easyer would be great. You think when i had the front end iligned a few months ago they would have found that. Are these parts that faulty on chevs? My first chev I like it but I got over 110,000 miles on my ford before i had to touch the front end(BALL JOINTS) Thanks in advance

I have a 2001 4x4 with 66,000 miles on it. Last month or so I noticed the truck was pulling to the left so i rotated the tires and that didnt work. Well to make a long story short I decided to jack up the left side and check the hub and ball joints and such. What I found is that the pitman and idler arm are worn out!!!!! Here is my question is there a way to get the pitman arm off without a special puller??? In order for me to order the parts i need i have to remove the pitman to see if it is a 3 or 4 spline? So the truck will sit and snowmobile season is right around the corner. Any ideas to make this easyer would be great. You think when i had the front end iligned a few months ago they would have found that. Are these parts that faulty on chevs? My first chev I like it but I got over 110,000 miles on my ford before i had to touch the front end(BALL JOINTS) Thanks in advance

unbolt it and take the assembly to a shop with a press and they will press the part off...jj

Well I changed both. I pulled out the gearbox because there is no room to get the pitman off anyway. But now i have the airbag light staying on so i guess it is off to the dealer to see whats up with that. If anyone has any ideas what it could be that would be cool Thanks

Well I changed both. I pulled out the gearbox because there is no room to get the pitman off anyway. But now i have the airbag light staying on so i guess it is off to the dealer to see whats up with that. If anyone has any ideas what it could be that would be cool Thanks

I did the same and now my airbag light comes on. What did you do to fix it???

Yeah, the pitman/idler arm has always been one of the major problems in GM IFS. That and tie rod ends. Luckily for me, with my cognito suspension lift, they address these problems, with an extra support on the idler arm and heim'd tie rod ends, way stronger.

Well I changed both. I pulled out the gearbox because there is no room to get the pitman off anyway. But now i have the airbag light staying on so i guess it is off to the dealer to see whats up with that. If anyone has any ideas what it could be that would be cool Thanks


What did you do to fix the light??? I got the same problem!
Thanks Dave