For at least a year, the steering on my 4runner has been very "loose" feeling. It had a lack of response and was a lot worse off road. When I bought the truck, the boots on the steering rack weren't in the best condition. After awhile, I noticed that the rack was leaking from the inner TREs. I decided to replace the rack with a new one from
Safari, LTD. I was very satisfied with the rack, but the steering was still not like factory new. I went on a search for what else could be wrong. I found that one of the fittings on the rack was leaking, so I tightened it properly and stopped the leaking. That helped some, but still not where it needed to be. The search continued to the internet.
I found this thread on
TTORA that diagnosed steering play.
Today, I finally followed the instructions to fix the problem in the steering shaft that causes the play.
I was amazed at the difference that it made when I got behind the wheel tonight. I did not realize just how bad the play in my steering shaft had been. It is like a new truck now.
It's well worth the hour or so that it took to do the repair.
There are only 3 bolts and 2 springs that have to be removed once you get the column clam shell off. Don't fool with removing the kick panel and ignition. It's unnecessary. Of course, you do have to unplug 4 or 5 electronic plugs from under the steering wheel.
The three bolts are the two 6mm allen bolts that the tilt function pivots on (shown just below spring in pic above) and the 12mm bolt at the bottom of the steering shaft near the firewall (shown in pic below).
This is all you will remove.
This shows one of the tack welds (one on each side) that I had placed on the loose steering shaft joint. A local off road fab shop did it for free. I paid them by putting one of their stickers on my truck. Some people have drilled through the shaft and pressed in a roll pin instead of using tack welds.
[MENTION=88391]NateMob[/MENTION]
I do however get to give the 30" and 4 cubes as a present to my lovely 4runner. 
