sfa steering stop is bent

[cootees]

One of the steering stops on the solid front axle that I am rebuilding is bent inward pretty badly. Is it safe to leave it like that and beef it up with some gussets or do I need to bang it back out somehow? I'm sure someone has ran into this before.

Here is a picture of it. You can't see it that great but it is the closest one on the right hand side of the picture.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/cootees/DSCF0868.jpg

[UKMyers]

Stock ones are junk.. torch em off and weld some plated ones on there.

[Robinhood4x4]

If your stops are bent from an accident, then there's a good chance your whole housing is bent. That's what I went through and didn't realize it was bent until I started taking things apart.

There's not much you can do for a bent housing other than get a new one. If your housing is good, then you can bend back your steering stop and box it or otherwise reinforce it.

[cootees]

It wasn't in an accident. I think they were bent from a previous owner just being hard on them. At least the housing does not look bent as far as I can tell. I guess I will know more as I tear it apart.

[jimbo74]

the human eye cannot tell if a housing is bent unless its really bad