Thanks Crowz, do you mean the rack itself is likely to fail or some of the supporting hardware on the column?

Reason I am looking at this now is the front left lower ball joint bushing has gone causing some play so might as well sort out the whole lot.

Is there some way I can do testing in-situ to check what the problem is?

As you know removing/reinstalling the rack is no joke - would rather avoid that grief if possible.

Any in situ testing that you can recommend before I start throwing parts at it?

Edit: It recently failed inspection on the left ball joint having some play in it. I'm gonna replace both ball joints and all 4 control arms - well overdue on a 2005 car with 130k mi.