My car was recently in an accident and was repaired but when i took it to get an alignment they told me my passenger side steering knuckle was bent. I had no idea what a steering knuckle was at the time, so i asked if they could just align it or would it make a mig difference. He is said it is a huge deal and has to be replaced.

So i bought one from a member on here, waiting for it in the mail now, but are they hard to replace? I dont have a ball-joint puller or anything, have basic mechanic knowledge though, or would it cause less pain and struggles and just pay a mechanic $70 locally to replace it?

They had me reach over the the tire on top and feel the gap between the tire and the knuckle and it was about 1 finger if i remember right, the drivers side was 2 or 3 finger gap.

Also want to know, my passenger side wheel is pointed in extremely bad, from the accident. When i drove to the place, my drivers side tire looked as if it had A LOT of positive camber. They said everything looked good on that side though, so i was a bit confused. They said its like that because the passenger side is pointing in forcing the car that direction causing the tire to sit like that. the jacked the car up, let it down and it sat normal, unitl i drove again, than it went back to looking like positive camber. Does it sound like what they say?

 

bump cause i need help

 

Knuckle removal isn't too hard. You need to:

1. remove braking hardware and tie it out of the way, don't disconnect the line(easy)
2. pop lower ball joint from lower control arm (varies...search)
3. remove axle nut and axle (easy)
4. pop upper ball joint from top of knuckle(varies...search)

search for how to pop loose the ball joints. If you JUST have the knuckle, you will need to have the bearing pressed out and in.

pitman arm puller may help you with the ball joint. (keep the nut flush with the bottom of the ball joint threads, covering the wholes for the cotter pin)

get one at harbor freight or local auto parts store