Towards the bottom of this thread, https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum1/HTML/044690-2.html , the question was raised that I may have a bad steering knuckle on my car. Rather than hijack his thread, I'll start a new one.

The knuckle looked ok when I was working on it, but I wasn't sure what I needed to be looking for. How do I tell if it's good or bad (other than obvious out of round wear, which I didn't notice).

The symptom that makes me suspect the knuckle is that when I torque down the castle nut, it goes so far down on the lower ball joint that the cotter pin doesn't even contact the castle nut.

I'm using Rodney Dickman balljoints, btw.

Any suggestions?

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quote Originally posted by Formula88: Towards the bottom of this thread, https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum1/HTML/044690-2.html , the question was raised that I may have a bad steering knuckle on my car. Rather than hijack his thread, I'll start a new one. The knuckle looked ok when I was working on it, but I wasn't sure what I needed to be looking for. How do I tell if it's good or bad (other than obvious out of round wear, which I didn't notice). The symptom that makes me suspect the knuckle is that when I torque down the castle nut, it goes so far down on the lower ball joint that the cotter pin doesn't even contact the castle nut. I'm using Rodney Dickman balljoints, btw. Any suggestions?

If it is going down that far before it gets tight then it is bad.
Either it is worn or it may even have a hairline crack.
Which side is it ? They are marked Left and Right.
I have another set, I will be out of town until Sun. night but you can Email me if you
don't come up with another solution.

It's the passenger side (right). It sounds like the safe bet is to replace it. I've found a few in the NC area on http://www.car-part.com but I doubt any of them are open on the weekend. I'm going to call around Saturday morning and see what I can find out.

+ for you help. Thanks!