Chrysler Repair: Bent steering knuckle or bad rack & pinion?, chrysler concorde lxi, 2000 chrysler concorde lxi

Question
Hello, I have a 2000 Chrysler Concorde LXI w/ 3.2L V6. I had a minor accident
where I hit a curb on the driver side, I busted the tire, bent the strut, bent
the subframe, bent the lower control arm, and had to get a new tire and rim. I
had the following replaced, used subframe, two new struts in front, used tire
and rim, used lower control arm and two new inner tie rod bushings. After having
the car repaired multiple times as I did not do this in one shot, three days
after the car was aligned and was driving rather well, the steering became stiff
to the left side trying to turn towards the driver side. Now, when my car was
being repaired, they went to align it and I noticed my driverside tire facing
more out towards the left and in the air hanging more out to the left and the
bottom of the tire facing in, then the mechanics unbolted the bottom of the
strut and pushed something back and then rebolted it and the tire was no longer
pushed back and tilted to the left. I was able to drive very well for three days
and even before the car was repaired, but now the steering is tight to the left,
sometimes it loosens and is good sometimes it is quite tight, the return is
tight too and if you turn to the right, it is good but then when you try to turn
back it is a bit tight. I was told I either have a bent steering knuckle and
spindle which apparently controls the pivoting of the tire, or I may have a
damaged rack and pinion or binding tie rod bushing. Any idea what may be the
problem, my power steering pump I believe is good, because I changed the fluid
myself and put lucas in it and noticed no problems. Any help would be
appreciated, I'm leaning more in my opinion towards a bent knuckle or it is
possible that the car needs to be realigned again apparently to fix the problem?
The car's steering wheel also does shimmy at around 50-60mph, and it acts a bit
funny between 25-30, but it does pretty good. Any help would be appreciated, any
idea what may be wrong or what could be done?


Answer
If the original accident didn't directly damage the rack and pinion I would give that lower priority. I wonder about the lubrication situation and/or variance from spec of the used parts. It appears, though, that none of the interfaces have grease fittings, so if any of the used parts that move were short of grease that might help explain the binding up on turns. I doubt that bent spindle and knuckle would not show up right away rather than after a delay. And I would also believe that alignment difficulty and/or straight ahead road behavior would have pointed that issue out early on if it were present.  
I don't know how many different shops are involved so far and who might be responsible for what. So if it is only one, you might want to take it to a separate shop for evaluation, and if several shops were involved so far return to the one that gives you the most confidence and ask them to evaluate the situation including the parts that they were not involved with. A new set of eyes with a good reputation for skill and honesty is what is needed here.
Good luck to you on this problem.
Roland