Loose steering

On my tacoma I have left right play in the wheels. I traced issue to the rack. The boots are dry but I can hear some slapping under the boot. I’ve been reading on new guides, but only see them on 1st gen trucks. Can they be replaced on 2nd gen? Or do I have some sort of other issue? Would it be more cost affective to just replace whole rack?

 

I don't know what guides are but the inner tie-rods may be getting sloppy. You can carefully remove the boot, replace the tie-rods, get the alignment close with some hand tools and then send it to an alignment shop for the final touch

 

For sure on the tie rod ends -- both inner and outer -- but the OP may be referring to the rack guide itself. If adjusted it on both my Tacos to cure slop and an annoying clunk but it is is a bit tricky to do and I had to make a couple of tools. Got tight, non-clunky steering though.

 

All ball joints and tie rods and other bushings all looked good. Whatever my issue is, is under that boot. So inner tie rods I gather. The guide process seemed simple on 1st gens how was it on 2nd gen trucks?

 

The guide adjustment has a different design on the 2nd Gens. Like I said above, its a bit tricky and I had to make a couple of tools but can be done. It was loose and clunked on both my 2nd gens and I could not live with it that way. However, a long time ago this came up on this forum and created a bit of a storm. You have to be careful to not get it too tight because there is some belief, not verified from what I can tell, that the factory started using some type of teflon coating on the guide screw instead of some type of bearing. Anyway, some of the discussion surrounded whether a teflon coating would hold up or rapidly wear away leading to really rapid wear of the rack.