Accident now steering wheel off-what to check

[74 Thing]

Some clueless lady in her SUV pulled into my lane this afternoon so I had to lock up the brakes, honk and to avoid her slaming my passenger side I ended up going up the center island and hit the sidewall on the front tire hard while skidding probably at 20-30mph. After getting out and making sure she did not hit me in the side I noticed the steering wheel is off a bit. There was no rim damage but I could see where the side wall of the front tire hit the curb (tall sidewall with 205/65/15 tires). I tried to crawl under there tonight to make sure nothing was broken, but it was hard to see.

What should I check-bearings/tie rods/alignment...anything else. It is not pulling but the steering wheel seems to have moved over a spline (maybe it did).

[citroen]

Look under the front end for any thing that does not look straight check the tie rods and the toe end You just might have moved the steering shaft on the steering box if you did tighten up the bolts on the shaft take your steering wheel off and put it on straight after you make sure you did not bend anything. There are a bunch of nuts on the road I had two people cut me off just driving over to Rons tonight and it is only a 20 minute drive

[74 Thing]

What is the best way to check the tie rod ends? In the past if I has one that was bad I was able to locate it by having someone turn the steering wheel while I would lay underneath with my hand on the joint-I could feel the slop.

What do you set your toe in at 1/8" to 1/16" toe in?

[mondshine]

If it was my car, I would remove the fuel tank in order to have a good look at all of the steering components.
As Dennis mentioned, confirm that the steering coupler is tight on both the steering column shaft and the steering gearbox shaft.
Confirm that the steering gearbox has not moved along the axle beam tube.
Check the condition of the rubber coupling disc, as well as both tie rods and their ends.

If careless drivers make you nervous, and you have $40 burning a hole in your pocket, check out this daytime running light module from:
http://www.webelectricproducts.com/
I have seen, countless times, eye contact from drivers who were likely to pull out right in front of me, and I know this thing has prevented many close encounters.
It's a very simple installation.

DRL's in action.


Good luck, Mondshine

[74 Thing]

OK, I replaced the drivers side tie rods and bar, checked everything else which was ok, checked the wheel bearings, and set the toe in. Everything is running fine except there was slop in the steering box. It's a TRW. I attempted to adjusted and it tightened it up (I did both of the adjustments to the worm and the roller), but with it tightened up there is about 1" of slop that comes on in the same point while turning the wheel. I assume this is in the steering box.

What are my replacement choices-I only see TRW and Chinese knockoffs. This is my second TRW.

Thanks

[mondshine]

Many people are happy with their TRW steering gearboxes, but I think the quality is hit or miss.
I had a TRW steering gearbox on my car for about a year.
It was tight when first installed, but soon became so loose that I couldn't stand it. The two possible adjustments didn't help; I think the sector roller had too much side play.
In any event, I replaced it with a used VW unit, which has stayed consistent for the last couple years.
It seems that now, more than ever, good used OE parts from the junk yard are a better choice than new aftermarket parts.
Good luck, Mondshine