I could some advice from you smart and experience folks to help trouble shoot some steering issues. I’m still a novice at doing my own work, but hoping to get some pointers on where I should be looking to address these issues.

I have 97 2WD sr-5. Vehicle has a little over 100k. The issues may or may not be related.

1st issue: I get belt squeal when I cold start the vehicle—sometimes at warm start too. It seems to be temperature and humidity dependent, it squeals less in cooler weather. Belt squeals for less than 5 seconds at cold start, maybe a second or not at all at a warm start. It also squeals when I turn the steering wheel all the way to either side. I replaced my power steering belt (and other belts) within last 10k miles. Not sure if I tensioned it to spec. (I don’t have a tension gauge.) Power steering motor is original, fluid changed within 10k miles.

2nd issue: Steering wheel is very difficult to turn and doesn’t return to center without help. At higher speed (even just 5-10 mph) turning becomes much easier. I don’t think there is a lot of play. I got an alignment recently and this seemed to make turning the wheel easier, but that was short-lived and probably coincidental. From searching this forum, I was going to investigate the intermediate steering shaft. To my knowledge, all steering components are original, except for a replaced lower ball joint within last 30k miles.

Any thoughts on where to look to resolve these issues?

Thanks!