'95 4Runner Loose steering to the left

[m4Pullay]

Hello everyone,

Well after I had very sloppy and loose steering for a little while I got the car checked out and it was diagnosed with bad Ball joints, idler arm, steering stabilizer, and inner tie rod ends and Upper frt Bushings. So we did a DIY job of replacing all these parts both upper and lower ball joints, stabilizer, inner tie rod ends, and idler arm but not the bushings then had an alignment done.

After the alignment was done the steering seemed fine a bit stiff but it was much better than the sloppy steering I had before. Now though after about a week of driving it I am getting quite a bit of play turning to the left, and I can barely make a normal u turn. Other symptoms appear to be that either the steering or the wheel feels very light on the front left and almost feels like its riding on air. When I make left turns into parking lots the wheel is just about at its max to get the turn, but right turns are ok. The car itself has about 190K on the frame, about 15K on the rebuilt engine.

I was wondering what mechanical pieces to check next other than Bushings because I would like to save a 550 repair if I can, unless it was just a bad alignment.

 

[fourwd1]

Did you replace the relay rod when you replaced the other stuff?

 

[m4Pullay]

No, but it was replaced around '02 '03 from stock when Toyota had a recall.

 

[hoe_nah]

Id jack up the front and wiggle the tires...u may find something

 

[m4Pullay]

Doesn't seem to be much play when jacked up. There was a clunk when turning hard left, but found that to be a loose nut from the alignment. This helped a little but I still feel the steering wheel a little loose on the left when approaching highway speeds. 60+

 

[m4Pullay]

Pictures show left front. The only thing I can see is the top boot seems to be off a little bit (pinched) but I wouldn't think this would cause high speed loose steering issues.