I have a 2007 Toyota Rav4 Sport 3.5L 4WD with 153,000 miles.
When I rock the tires by placing hands on 3 and 9 a clock, both tires have a play.
It does not have a play when I rock them from 12 and 6 a clock.
However, about 11 months ago, I had to replace the inner tie rod ends for the same issue. When I asked the repair shop that did the job, they said that now it has the play because the steering rack and pinion bushing is bad (from the place where the inner tie rod connects to the rack. Not the bushing that rack attaches to the vehicle body).
They said that it is an expensive job (costs over $1000) and the repair is not needed at the moment. I went to another mechanic and they said it's the inner tie rod ends that are bad. So, I'm not sure who is correct.
I don't hear any clunking noises or do not feel anything weird when driving at the moment.
Could you please tell me know how to test if it's actually the inner tie rod ends that are bad again or the steering rack that is bad?
We'll start with another mechanic who knows the stuff it's not that hard to figure out if it's the rack or the rods themselves a good mechanic knows how to pull on it and how to test them and if you put on in her rods if you know he actually didn't saw it they generally last for quite some time so if it has any slack on the inside when you grab the arm not the tires but the arm itself it would be the rack
I'm going to try that myself. Thank you so much for your reply Scotty!