Ok,
I retightened everything - the rubber bushings holding the whole rack in place seem ok. I took the calipers off, the pins had a little grease on them - I put copper paste on them.
Removing the sway bar end link for trial was a mistake - the bar interferes with the half shaft and makes a bang
. So I reinstalled that.
There's no detectable play in the steering columns shaft or its U-joints. With the engine off there are two separate audible knocks, though, coming from either the shaft system or from inside the rack. I was alone and not able to pinpoint exactly where they come from....
What kind of noises do you guys hear when rocking the wheel from side to side with the engine off?
I also noticed that there's just a little axial play in the half shafts - yanking them left to right makes about the sound as I hear inside while driving on washboard surface..... hard to imagine this could happen when they are rotating under load.
Let's keep on hunting
Tapani