Jetstar 88

Does anybody make new pitman arms for a 1964 Jetstar 88? If not, is there any interchange between Chevy or Cutlass parts?
Issues like these, I have found, are the main follies of relying on a 47-year-old car for basic transportation.

D Appeldorn

checked fusick?

jaunty75

Fusick doesn't have it. It's kind of sad, but Fusick seems to have pretty much abandoned the steering/suspension part business for the full-size cars. I don't see anything in their current catalog.

I had a '64 Jetstar 88 back in the early '90s, and at that time you could get pretty much everything through Fusick and other places as well. Idler arms, pitman arms, center links, ball joints, tie-rod ends, you name it. Now none of that stuff is in their catalog. I know this is 20 years ago now. Kind of shame, but I'm guessing that the NOS pieces they had have all been sold off.

Rock Auto, Autozone, and a few other places I've looked have some front end parts, including ball joints, center links, and idler arms, but none of them, not even Kanter, show availability of a pitman arm. You may end up having to find a good used piece from a parts car, and that will take some hunting. I know the Jetstar had different brakes from the other full-size 88s that year, but I think the steering and suspension pieces were the same. That should broaden your search area, so to speak.

You're right. Using a 47-year-old car as your daily transportation DOES entail some risk. It's almost a requirement that you purchase a second, identical car as a source of parts.

deaddds

I didn't do a search but Rare Parts used to have all this stuff too. If I remember they are out of CA.

jaunty75

I did a search at Rare Parts just now. Interesting site. I'd not heard of it.

But they do not show availability of a pitman arm for a '64 Jetstar 88. Like other places, they do show a center link, idler arm, and tie-rod ends and sleeves, as well as a steering pump, but no pitman arm.

They also have a "We Will Build It" link at the top of their home page, and if you click on that, it says they will custom build parts. No prices listed, not surprisingly, but it would probably be well worth contacting them if you can't find the pitman arm anywhere else to see what they can do.

radioburningchrome

Or if you get lucky, finding a parts car in a junkyard.

This was my case. Once the (junk)cars were gone (after a few years), my 1965 cars were relegated to minimal use.

D Appeldorn

Maybe a strange question, but why do you want a other pitmanarm?

if i ám not mistaking you mean the arm on the steeringbox.
They are solid iron,

Jetstar 88

It seems the pitman arm is not the problem, as today I discovered one of the control arm bushings has made a mess of itself, which is causing the steering pull. The shop we had brought it to believed it was play in the steering linkage, but now we know better. Thank you for the help. It is kind of depressing to see fusick pull out of the chassis business, but thankfully kanter is picking up the slack.

jaunty75

You know, I kind of wondered about that. When I was redoing the front end of my Jetstar back in the early '90s, I recall replacing many of the components I've mentioned (idler arm, center link, ball joints), but not the pitman arm. Maybe the reason you don't see replacements available is because they don't wear out? I really don't know, but it does seem strange that all of these parts suppliers would seem to have everything but that.