I did a search, but still a little unclear. The steering doesn't really have any play, but when I get under the truck the arm shaft is sticking out about .75-1 inch out of the joint at the tie rod. Nothing appears bent. I can move it front to back, but very little play side to side. I can also hear it tapping a little bit in the housing. Should I rebuild or just suck up and replace it? How much play is too much for a rebuild?
Thanks!

 

O.K., I talked to a service tech at Deland Toyota and he said I should replace the whole assembly because based on what I told him it sounded pretty bad. I bought a TRW assembly from Advance for $55 and put it on today. It was really easy. I hope it holds up. It looks pretty heavy duty. We'll see, I guess.

 

My steering was loose after many years and many miles on the original, so I rebuilt my idler arm at 125,000 miles with toyota bushings. Then I drove it for a month or two. There was still a lot of play in the steering so I replaced all the worn ball joints. The idler arm felt like it had some play in it even after the rebuild so I went back and bought a new one from the dealer. After that the steering was tight and has remained tight for the last year.

I think it can be helpful to rebuild the idler arm at 50-60,000 miles, but once it is too far gone it will not be tight like it was when new. I went with a new one because I did not want any of the other new parts to wear faster than normal because of the play in the idler arm.