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Some drunk ******* recently plowed into the front of my '88 e350, pushing it into the street far enough for the good ole SDPD boys to have to tow it away in the middle of the night.
They hit the drivers side. The steering wheel is now about 180deg from where it used to be going straight. Turns left a lot tighter than it turns right too. I found the driver side sway bar mount rather smooshed and am replacing those.
Wondering if y'all think I should try to get it aligned as is or just spring for fresh tie rods and all first? Not really sure if they're bent or not or how to tell.
I would take it to an alignment shop, get their diagnosis and estimate of repairs. If you want to DIY then you'd have an idea what to replace and return to the shop for a proper and accurate alignment.
Since the sway bar brackets for the frame bushings are bent I'd would guess your I-Beam might have been affected or as you mention the tie rods or drag link too. Your description of what happened suggests this was one hellauva wallop the left front tire and wheel assembly suffered.
I took it to an alignment shop and the owner took a quick look with it parked on the ground.
He identified that my right drag link is fixed length, and he'd need that to be adjustable in order to set the tow correctly. I've got a new set of links and tie rod ends on order now.
When I got home, I jacked up to give it a better look around, and I've found that there's quite a bit of play in the camber of both front wheels. Felt like >2deg
I want to get this sorted before I go back for alignment.
This would mean that I should replace the ball joints right?
Thanks XLT, this explains why I can't find the ball joints section for my van in rockAuto.
I'll go ahead and replace my brake pads and resurface the rotors while everything is apart.
Any other suggestions on things to freshen up before I get it aligned?
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