A parts question; A junkyard question Options

[Langing]

Have never done it before, but I plan on visiting local auto junkyards very soon to try to find a steering knuckle to replace the one I have that has bent ears. I'm looking for two things: advice on using auto junkyards from you experts, such as how to know the part was not involved in a collision if it has already been removed (and yeah, I'm a little scared of the dog), and I need to know what vehicles used the same knuckle as my manual 94 Celica ST Coup (1.8L) w/o ABS. I know it's the same for all 94-99 Celicas, but are there any others that used the same part?

The Toyota part number is 43211-29015.

Would very much appreciate getting advice.

TIA

[Keiri]

Have never done it before, but I plan on visiting local auto junkyards very soon to try to find a steering knuckle to replace the one I have that has bent ears. I'm looking for two things: advice on using auto junkyards from you experts, such as how to know the part was not involved in a collision if it has already been removed (and yeah, I'm a little scared of the dog), and I need to know what vehicles used the same knuckle as my manual 94 Celica ST Coup (1.8L) w/o ABS. I know it's the same for all 94-99 Celicas, but are there any others that used the same part?

The Toyota part number is 43211-29015.

Would very much appreciate getting advice.

TIA

I can't help with the first question (telling if the part was collision damaged) other than to say look at the exterior of the car and judge if the surrounding area looks like it's been seriously damaged; if so, then the parts in that area are likely bad - or stressed at the least.

As the second part, unfortunately, only 6th gen Celicas use our knuckles - there's no other USDM Toyota/etc. that has the same front knuckles.

[Langing]

Have never done it before, but I plan on visiting local auto junkyards very soon to try to find a steering knuckle to replace the one I have that has bent ears. I'm looking for two things: advice on using auto junkyards from you experts, such as how to know the part was not involved in a collision if it has already been removed (and yeah, I'm a little scared of the dog), and I need to know what vehicles used the same knuckle as my manual 94 Celica ST Coup (1.8L) w/o ABS. I know it's the same for all 94-99 Celicas, but are there any others that used the same part?

The Toyota part number is 43211-29015.

Would very much appreciate getting advice.

TIA

I can't help with the first question (telling if the part was collision damaged) other than to say look at the exterior of the car and judge if the surrounding area looks like it's been seriously damaged; if so, then the parts in that area are likely bad - or stressed at the least.

As the second part, unfortunately, only 6th gen Celicas use our knuckles - there's no other USDM Toyota/etc. that has the same front knuckles.

That's sad. . . that only 6th gen Celicas use our knuckles. I thought maybe Lexus? Well, at least its the same on all Celicas from 1994-1999, so I should be able to find one.

Your suggested approach is kind of how I was wanting to go about obtaining the knuckle from a junkyard. That's where my head was yesterday when I looked on-line for local yards. Turns out, there were far more local yards that employed "mechanics" to disembowel used vehicle so they could have 'inventories' of parts, than yards that let you wander down to the actual cars. But without taking a part off personally, I don't know how I could know the history of the part.