Pitman Arms

I mean, what's there to do - unscrew four bolts, screw them back on, right?

Wrong.

Maybe so if that's the car you've owned from the day one. Then you may probably get away with just the pair of dogbones like this.

Not so if that car is used, or should I say pre-owned, or should I say pre-<censored>-up. In that case you're likely to find, say, a missing washer or two (part #33311125916), or a destroyed bolt (part #07119914848).



So either you spend more cash on the complete set with fasteners like this, or you're going to be running around looking for bolts and washers anyway.

It's up to you to decide what's more expensive - about $50 in price (that's the difference between the pair of arms and pair of complete sets) or the most non-renewable resource that you have in your life - your time. Plus some money on missing/bad parts, of course.

One more thing: dogbones that have gone bad (picture on top) look identical to new ones, made by Karlyn. I don't know how much time does the metal need to go dark and gloomy in a hot and dry climate, but the old dogbones look very, very new and shiny after so much as being dipped into white spirit and cleaned lazily with a toothbrush. Rubber on them is absolutely thrashed, though - look at the big picture. I have no clue whether the new parts are any good or not, but you bet that if they aren't, you'll see the update here as soon as I find them going bad. For now, though, I'd say that if I had to make a decision again, I would've gone with the more expensive complete kit.

UPDATE: The story is far from over. Check out this thread at MyE28.com, and take a close look at this picture: