I seriously just went through this. I wanted to check play in front end...thought it felt loose. A click on on driver side when I rocked the wheel. Checked everything and thought ...got to be the inner tie rod end. Tried several times. then had my grandson hold steering wheel tight....click still there. Not having the time to wait on dealer and needing right away for a trip to Seward. I picked up some aftermarket inners and outers ( NAPA). was just gonna do what had to be done, take back others. "Rented the tools" from autozone. Scheduled an alignment.
Went to tear into and cant find the noise now...figured...IM not gonna mess with it.. but I did check torque on LBJ's and outtters...all ok..took all the parts back.
Figured....ok if shop calls and says I need the parts. will just have to pay them
shop called me back...siad...cars ready to go...thats a really solid old 4runner.
Guess my feeling of loose was maybe road conditions still thawing from permafrost and heaving