My 2001 Tacoma has what seems to be excessive free play in the steering. The outer rim of the steering wheel has about 0.75 inch free play with the engine on or off. I know this model employs rack and pinion steering and all my previous and current Toyotas with rack and pinion steering have no noticable free play. The truck has about 18,000 miles of careful driving and the power steering fluid level is within specs. I have detected no leaks. Any comments regarding experience or troubleshooting would be helpful.

 

Not sure about your model, but on my 2nd gen, the steering gear box has an adjusting screw on the top for increasing/decreasing freeplay. There are two fittings on the top of the gear box, one is the bleeder valve for the ps and the other larger one is the adjusting screw. Might wanna check your manual for freeplay specs.

 

That doesn't apply for rack and pinion steering, they usually don't have freeplay adjustment. Check for anything loose underneath, tie rods, rack mounting bolts etc.