Loose steering issue at speed

In the last couple months my 2000 5-lug taco has developed a bit of a loose steering feel at highway speeds. Hitting a bump upsets the car and I get a bit of side-to-side play that feels like I have to wrestle with it a bit more than I like to keep driving straight. It had no such issues not too long ago and I'm trying to track down what the cause might be.

I've replaced shocks, lower and upper ball joints, sway bar links and outer tie rod ends.

I'm suspecting it is either the steering rack bushings, inner tie rod ends, or lower control arm bushings.



Here's the noise it makes from me turning the wheel and keeping a foot against the sidewall of the tire. I do see a little movement in the rack, not sure what an acceptable amount is but I've ordered the new bushings as that shouldn't be too hard to change. I'm just curious if this screams inner tie rods or not too?

I hate doing the parts cannon thing and would like to figure out what to replace / what's wrong if at all possible.

 

sounds like the large mounting bushing on the rack is worn out

 

Its not lowered is it?

 

My 6 lug truck is doing that after on a day where the roads were covered in 1/4” of black ice I slid into a telephone pole at about 3 mph.

 

With the drivers side window down reach in and move the steering wheel slightly and see if the left front tire moves. There is an known issue with the steering column, if I remeber correctly, spot welds breaking and giving a loose steering feel. There is also a rubber/fibre coupler that connects the upper column to the rack/lower column. I call it a rag joint.

 

I can't tell on the video if the far tie rod is moving the same as the one focused on? Is the steering wheel locked?

 

"Acceptable amount" is as much as 1/8" with the wheels on the ground and turning left/right. That movement should only be the amount the rubber your bushings compress. Harder bushings (like black ES) will move less, while black bushings are more responsive it's a little rough. Use Red ES.

Was the shop able to give you a good alignment? Not an expert at steering principles.

Have a closer look at your LCA bushings, but if I had to guess it could be anything from a steering rack going south to wheel bearings.

 

To follow up on this, replaced the steering rack bushings and UCA's today and it tightened things up a bit steering feel wise. The loose feeling now would appear to be more akin to a blown shock, so I'll be checking those out next (less than 1yr old Monroe's).