Hello,
My girl has a 2007 4Runner Sport with 177k miles. Two weeks ago she mentioned her steering felt "a little stiff". Initially, I thought it was in her head because we had just returned from vacation which included her driving my 2018 Jeep JKU for the week.

Out of curiosity, I decided to take the 4Runner for a ride. Three things quickly became apparent:

1. OMG was she understating the "stiffness'
2. Vehicle is scary to drive
3. She's much stronger than me

Off to our favorite mechanic we went. A week and nearly $4k later the vehicle is different, somewhat less stiff but definitely not right.

So far we have had the following work performed:

1. Changed the power steering fluid
2. Replaced the power steering pump
3. Replaced the rack
4. New tires & alignment

I read other threads on the site, watched the YouTube videos but we have one different scenario. The vehicle feels normal when we drive in the rain. I'm guessing that water is lubricating something that's ready to fail.

Opinions?

Thanks in advance
drew