Steering shaft issue, steering is sticky and the steering changes angle

I have an '02 tundra and the steering is having some issues. It sticks at points when turning the steering wheel, and the angle of the steering wheel that keeps the truck going straight changes a bit. Usually straight for the truck is the steering wheel turned 15 degrees to the right, but sometimes straight is straight. When going over some bumps the play in the steering that I don't usually notice makes me need to turn the steering wheel to a bit to a new place to continue going straight.

I took off the cover for the lower steering column u-joint and there is a lot of play, and maybe too much grease. You can move it side-to-side a bit by lightly pushing it, and it moves side-to-side when steering, as well. Also, the collar in the middle of the second picture just slides around. I've been hearing it rattling for years. I'm not sure if it has to do with this.

I have more pictures here and also videos. But the link is temporary and will only last three days.
https://we.tl/t-P5MSdvH3h1

What is it exactly that I need to replace? I've never had to open up this part of a truck before. Is there supposed to be a seal at the bottom? It seems like a very large opening.

Sorry for these pictures. I couldn't get them straight. They were taken in portrait mode and the forum doesn't seem to like that. Thanks for any help.

 

You've left a lot of helpful information out. Here's your previous thread with steering issues and more descriptions. Your steering shaft seal / bushing is obviously shot in these new pics.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/2002-4-7l-toyota-tundra-steering-issues.107744/#post-3976249

 

For one, you need to replace the steering shaft seal. Man, that must be aggravating hearing everything from the cab.

Like most common problems, we have a sticky on the subject, it's right here: https://www.tundras.com/threads/diy-steering-shaft-seal.48664/

 

I'll go ahead and replace the seal, then. Thanks. I don't really notice any noise. Maybe it's been like this since I got it? I don't know. Hopefully it will be a big improvement.

There is some more information that may help, but I'm not sure.
1. I replaced the upper and lower control arms because the aftermarket upper control arms the previous owner had installed had the wheels at an angle for off-road racing or something.
2. I upgraded the struts because my heavy bumper and winch frequently had the suspension bottoming out.
3. I replaced the bad shocks. Those had been shot for years.

Those three things I did at once. I don't remember if the steering wheel was off-center before this, but I think it was. That was a couple months ago. Then my dad aligned the truck and for some reason ended up having to adjust the tie rod on one side way out and the other way in. And after that there were popping sounds when turning, to either extreme, I think. When he aligned it, the steering wheel started off straight, but it turned as soon as I started driving it.

Because of the tie rod positioning and noise we:
4. replaced the power steering rack. I'm not sure if we had to, why the alignment didn't work out confuses me, but whatever.

After he aligned it again, the same thing happened. The steering wheel was straight on the machine, but as soon as I started driving it turned. I saw the u-joint and seal when I was trying to make it easier to get the steering column on the rack.

 

I mean, if you want to know, you can always stuff some insulation in there like (I think @Jack McCarthy ?) did.

 

What happened with him?

 

His noise was reduced.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/diy-steering-shaft-seal.48664/page-2#post-1967624

But it probably didn't help in any other way.

 

Your emoji made me think something funny happened! Also, I ordered the part. I should be able to get that installed this week, and then I'll see if that fixes anything. From what ya'll are saying it should at least reduce cabin noise, which is a massive win in and of itself. That should also help narrow things down. But the steering column in the post you linked was perfectly centered even with the bad seal, which leads me to believe this probably won't help with the steering play.

 

Yeah, and to your point, I've linked up a couple other people's shafts that were not only off-center, but showed signs they were wobbling around and whacking the metal around it.

The reason I'm not speaking to that specific point is because I haven't had my rack/intermediate shaft/anything steering related undone as of yet, so I can't speak to (A) how and/or if the intermediate shaft/steering shaft can be adjusted up/down/left/right so it's centered, and (B) if the steering shaft seal provides any role in keeping the shaft centered. There may be others in here who've replaced their rack (@bmf4069 is one with an earlier truck like yours) who may know, or may not, I'm not sure.

I'm not 100% convinced my 2006 AC has the same setup as the earlier year trucks. The pics I've seen others with '00-'02 trucks post, I swear mine looks different when looking up into the engine bay at the firewall.

 

An update, since is has been over two weeks.

It took me a while to get to it, but the day before yesterday I finally got to changing the seal. I tried for a good while, but I couldn't for the life of me get the steering column off. For context, I have a 3" body lift on, so I have a steering column extender attached directly to the power steering rack splines.

I tried moving that off of the power steering rack, and disconnecting the intermediate steering shaft from the steering extender. I believe what I did wrong was try to get off the intermediate steering column from the steering extender first, and leave that seized partially undone. That left the steering column longer and more difficult to get off when I tried to get the steering extender off of the power steering rack. So I should be able to get it off now, but in the process of trying I unbolted the steering u-joint right above the seal in the cab, and that made the steering bind a lot more when I assembled everything back.

I think that was bad anyways, because it made a weird wet sound when turning and I did have those steering issues. I bought a new one of those and a new intermediate steering shaft. The wear on that concerned me as well. Some of the metal seems to have rusted away. I've gotten the new intermediate shaft from napa, but the dealership either didn't get or has lost the steering shaft u-joint part. So I'm waiting on that. That stuff was expensive

 

I replaced the steering column seal, the steering column piece with the u-joint, and the intermediate steering column. The steering is smoother and doesn't bind at all now, and the edges of the steering range just have a firm stop instead of being spongy, but the steering wheel still changes the angle which makes the steering wheel go straight while driving. Not in a dangerous way or anything, It's just mildly annoying. I can't figure out why it does it. I assumed it was one of the parts I replaced, but maybe not. Also, the steering column is still not centered where it goes through the seal. I think that's either due to the body lift or the power steering rack not being perfectly level or something. Also, I have three questions:

1. I made a small dent in one of the power steering lines trying to get the steering column off. It is the third to last picture. It is the part that looks like a rubber hose connected to a metal hose, so it may just be a heat shield or something, but does it matter?
2. The second to last picture is where the u-joint piece of the steering column is prevented from sliding up or down too far in the intermediate steering column by the bolt that connects the two. Are the splines pretty much supposed to rest on that bolt, or should the keyway be further up?
3. What is that collar supposed to be in the bottom picture? It has just been jangling on my steering column for a long time.

Replaced u-joint steering column thing (top), replaced intermediate steering column (middle), steering column extender (bottom).


Replaced steering column seal, haven't driven enough to see if my truck is any quieter but I haven't noticed any difference.

Dented power steering line. Does it matter?



Steering shaft u-joint keyway where the splines meet the intermediate steering shaft.

 

Dent that small won’t matter unless it cracked and leaks