I found a guy to put it on a lift and let me inspect it. I found nothing out of the ordinary. Checked the passenger brake assy and the pins and pistons move freely.
Then I put my hands on the lower steering column assy. Now, it feels fine. No slop or play to speak of. But I see some things I dont know about. What I'm seeing in the linkage does not look like the parts diagrams I'm finding.
The shaft where it enters the firewall has a barrel like portion that appears to accept a shaft and there is a hole for what looks like a pin. This portion of the shaft doesnt budge when I push/pull. And it seems like a VERY small amount of metal meeting. But again, this looks nothing like the parts diagram and I cant tell if this is normal or if this is the failure point.
Does anyone know what this is supposed to look like on a 2012 Pathfinder silver 4WD?
The connection below this one (towards the rack) is also solid but there is some minor surface corrosion where it looks like there's room for in/out adjustment. From all I can tell this has always been in this position as there is no slop/play, and the corrosion is uniform across that flat surface
https://imgur.com/gallery/d07z36U