I have a 1997 3rd Gen 4runner with the v6 and 4wd 240k miles and recently major surgery was done and my mechanic had to lift the cab off the frame to repair the frame, and he had to take off alot of parts to achieve this (car spent its whole life in northern Illinois). Got it back a couple days ago and its extremely stiff to steer at a stop and while driving, feels stiff at all speeds. Before I brought it in it steered great and you could easily turn the wheel with a couple fingers and now its drastically different. At first I thought power steering pump but it has fluid and I drained the fluid to take a peek at the metal screen at the bottom of the pump and it didnt really look gunked up at all. So after doing a bit of research i'm wondering if its more likely that the steering rack guide was tightened to much because there isnt much difference in steering when moving or stopped. I just find it hard to believe that the power steering pump just stopped working or the rack is broken after not running, and it steered great before i brought it in. What do you guys think? sorry if its not the best explanation i'm not very mechanically inclined

My money's on sloppily re-installed rag joint.

Right - it is Binding.

Agreed. To be clear, the procedure to fix this is to loosen every part around the rage joint and make sure they all move freely. Then re-tighten with everything at 'rest' in a good position.

-Charlie