Steering Question

I noticed a play in the steering of my 2000 sr5 2wd. It appears the play comes where the steering shaft connects to the rack/pinion. The rack is new. The mechanic thinks its the intermediate shaft at the knuckle joint. Does the rack have a separate part the can cause a loose steering or is it always the intermediate shaft. The steering shaft itself is good.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsOptgpfshg

 

Had the same problem with my 01 it took a lot of reading to figure it out u can check it out by turning on ur ignition and holding the bottom of the steering shaft and moving the wheel back and forth if u feel play u will have to pull the steering shaft from the column and tack weld the slip part of the shaft together that should eliminate the play took me about a hr to do YouTube has a few good videos of how to remove the shaft