Exposed power steering?

I was looking under the taco today and I found this. Is this something I should be worried about or no?

 

If sand and grit gets in there you're going to be buying a new rack soon.

 

Looks like it's too late.

 

I'd cut the boot off and replace it after inspecting it really closely. You can install another one by unscrewing the outer tie rod and marking where it was located in the inner tie rod / counting the number of turns it takes to unscrew it and not need to get an alignment or at least drive safely to go get a new alignment.

 

Yes.

 

you need a new bellow, its not the end of the world, but if your rack begins to seep it might be.

 

the boots cost $7 I think, remove outer tie rod, remove old boot, clean anything if needed, check if tie rod or rack has any play, if not, rub liberal amount of grease on the inner socket and shaft and then install the new boot and reattach tie rod. not hard job at all, you just get a little dirty.

if one is bad odds are the other one is too since its mostly where you drive, high grass and brush, that tears them up but no "need" to change the other one unless it seems dried out and ready to start cracking. I always just change both from habit, if something goes bad on one side I change both sides.