I've seen this topic discussed before, but I think this warrants a new thread. I had been chasing steering freeplay for many years and after a new rack, bushings, bearings, ball joints, and tie rod ends, I have finally identified the culprit - the lower steering shaft. If you're chasing a steering freeplay issue, this is likely your culprit as well (now that I've sorted it out, it is fairly easy to diagnose - pull the rubber cover off the slip joint on the lower shaft and have someone turn the wheel with the car off - if there is play, you'll definitely see it.
The problem now becomes the fact that this shaft is long out of production and my scouring of old OEM stock has turned up nothing. I've seen a post or two where people welded together the lower portion of the stock shaft to the upper portion of another shaft (Matrix IIRC), but I'm not sure I'd fully trust my life to this part. My ask to those in the community suffering from this problem is to submit a reproduction request to GR Heritage Parts here: https://www.toyota.co.jp/cmpnform/pub/co/grheritage_en/ for part number 45260-14340 (Shaft assy, steering intermediate no.2) to get these shafts reproduced and the steering feel returned to its former glory.
Thanks!
The problem now becomes the fact that this shaft is long out of production and my scouring of old OEM stock has turned up nothing. I've seen a post or two where people welded together the lower portion of the stock shaft to the upper portion of another shaft (Matrix IIRC), but I'm not sure I'd fully trust my life to this part. My ask to those in the community suffering from this problem is to submit a reproduction request to GR Heritage Parts here: https://www.toyota.co.jp/cmpnform/pub/co/grheritage_en/ for part number 45260-14340 (Shaft assy, steering intermediate no.2) to get these shafts reproduced and the steering feel returned to its former glory.
Thanks!
