Steering Knuckle bent???

[reamer]

Is this right hand 1975 Bronco Dana 44 knuckle "bent"???? look at the angle of the bottom ball joint and the angle of the top. Should they be in a straight line? does cast iron bend trying to remove the top one in a press?

 

[DirtDonk]

Don’t have one in front of me to compare to, but right off the top I’d say you’re correct and it’s bent.
I don’t remember there being that much of an angularity difference between upper and lower.
It doesn’t really have to be precise in some cases, because the ball and socket of the ball joints can compensate for a little out of whackness. But yours looks pretty far out of whack!
Yes, cast can bend. It can also break if taken too far or under the wrong conditions.
But I’ve seen it bend. At least I thought they were castings?
Could they be forgings? Don’t think so, but I don’t know either. I’ve always just “assumed“ and you know what that can do.

 

[EPB72]

Is this right hand 1975 Bronco Dana 44 knuckle "bent"???? look at the angle of the bottom ball joint and the angle of the top. Should they be in a straight line? does cast iron bend trying to remove the top one in a press?

If you had it in the press the way you have it pictured then MOST LIKLIY YES it is bent,and looks bent in the picture ..
Not to mention the ball joint comes out towards the top, not pushing down,,,, If you use the C clamp style ball joint tool with correct adaptors then you need to remove the lower ball joint first to use the tool to remove the upper ,,,

 

[WILDHORSES]

Hate to say it but from the look of the photo you were trying to press the ball joint out the wrong way. The knuckle looks bent to me. I could be misinterpreting what is see. That positioning would be how to press the ball joint in. To press them out you would start from the bottom side of the knuckle and press the bottom joint out first. Then press the top one out through the hole of the bottom joint.

Jim