Replacing tie rods & rack & pinion.

Mechanic told me I'd need to replace my rack & pinion soon. After checking with a friend of mine, he said I can wait a few thousand miles before replacing it. My steering wheel has a little play when going straight, the alignment is perfect though. No bad tire wear or swerving on the road.

Rockauto has racks & pinions (including inner tie rods) for $200-$400. How difficult is this to install? My friend is very familiar with working on his for his 4runner, which is heavily modded.

I also see outer tie rods for $13 apiece. Those are much easier to replace I hear, but I'll need an alignment after any of this work. However I need them more urgently, my wheel assembly shakes left to right when jacked up. Hate to get two alignments within a short period of time but may be the best option.

Will I need to go to a specialist for the rack & pinions? Does the computer interact with it, or is it just hardware?

I've been working a lot on my motorcycle so I feel more confident messing with the rack, but I'd hate to brick the Prius.

 

Meant to include that. It has 189k miles, and it's been under a lot stress. Not too worried about replacing the suspension parts, it's probably overdue by now. But the rack & pinion seems like not an uncommon replacement, but I wonder if it's really necessary.

I've decided to visit a dealership to bleed my brakes ($90 roughly), and I'll have them inspect the rest of the car as well. A second, more qualified opinion may tell me this is all BS. I realized that the mechanic I visited was blaming spongy brakes on the rack & pinion. It makes sense for them to not perform at 100%, but I'm very confident there's air in the system right now. It feels just like my motorcycle before I bled those brakes.

 

Thanks, no idea how I posted it here.