Hi everyone. This is my first post to introduce myself and give a little background. My wife and I live in Palmyra, Pennsylvania and are both retired. We own a 1971 Toyota Crown, 2 door hardtop, with a multitude of optional equipment which also came with a very interesting story. The car was originally owned by my father in law and was purchased new as a left over in 1972 from a dealership in Harrisburg, Pa, where he worked. He drove it for 41,000 miles and then parked in his garage in 1979 and didn't drive it after that. In 2000, he offered the car to us but personal commitments kept us from taking the car and he instead, gave it to a friend of his who owned it until June of 2012, when he passed away. He willed it back to our family and we are now the proud owners. During his ownership, he won 44 trophies and 23 plaques and the car was, at one time, featured at the AACA museum in Hershey, Pa. Except for a few cosmetic changes, the car is in original condition. At this point in time, it isn't entirely road worthy because of steering problems and is in need of a pitman arm which has proven to be a most difficult find. Apparently, Toyota made every part available except this one for reasons unknown and as a last resort, we will have to have it fabricated. In any event, we are looking forward to getting it on the road and having it ready for next summers auto shows.

Welcome! I'd like to see some pics if you get a chance! Also for the pitman arm, there is a company called rare parts that makes almost every suspension component for every vehicle. I couldn't find anything for my corona, but I came across rare parts and they make every single suspension part for my corona. Hopefully the got something for you if you check them out! Good luck!

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1973 Hilux RN22 (Daily)
1972/1973 Corona Mark ii Wagon MX29 (((FOR SALE)))
1994 Honda Civic EG8 (sold)

Thanks for the information Wagon. I did call them and they said they could make the part but I was hesitant to send it out because if that's lost, I'm dead in the water. After many weeks of searching however, I was able to find a local machine shop that can retool the ball joint portion and bring it back to original condition and I'm hoping this works. I'll see if I can get a few photos attached for you to look at. Bear with me if I can't get it to work.

^ This should work. The pitman and idler arms are tough to find, but I've heard of old Chevy bushings being made to fit too. Going local is the way to do it though.

Great story about the Crown - cool to have it back in the family.

Thanks for the tip regarding the Chevy's. I've found that prior to buying anything, no one lists the dimensions of the arms and just show pictures which makes it difficult to match. This has been a most difficult task to find this arm. As of now, I have people looking in Africa, Puerto Rico, and here in the states. There's a large Auto Show coming up in mid October in Hershey, Pa and I'll have 5 guys looking with various dealers. I'll let you know how the machine shop does also. I see the picture I tried to send wasn't posted and I can't find the reason except that the file size may have been too big. I'll keep trying.

Have a look at this thread on ToyMods. They're talking about ilder arms (and RHD too), but the implication seems to be that a 112-series Crown's idler arm will substitute in for a 65-series Crown's idler arm. At the least, I'd guess that the bushings are the same size, and finding one of these and moving the bushings over to yours might be an easier solution than finding a whole new pitman arm.

I'm working on similar stuff right now, but on an MS55. Every tie rod end and ball joint is still available, but pitman and idler arms are a different story.

Thanks for the info. I'll give it a try and do some more research.

No worries; I read it from here (found the original thread).