94 Camry v6 steering issue

I have had such a bad/stressful week thus far, hopefully someone can help make it right:
Car: 94 camry le v6 sedan, 164.5k miles
History lesson: bought the car at 115k miles, had been in a front end wreck which bent the frame rail and subframe (bad, yes; car bought for bad weather driving at a deep discount to book value, also yes)
Since i’ve owned it: new front struts, both front control arms, new front strut mounts, steering gearbox replaced, steering column lower u-joint “at rack” replaced
Problem: Had the transmission rebuilt recently along with a new rear motor mt. and transmission mt. and since I got it back, I noticed the steering axis was off/different from before the rebuild (not concerning in itself), but when i took a left turn and straightened the wheel out again, the axis was dead-on center. It proceeded to change back and forth most often while crossing railroads or large bumps and always when turning sharply. I took it back to transmission place and notified them of my concern, told them the steering axis changed after bumps or sharp turns. They said they looked at everything they would have done to affect steering and re-checked all of the engine/trans ‘cradle’ bolts and nothing was noticeable. Took the car to my parents (about 75miles) and by the time i got there, the steering was downright loose, i went into a slightly banked right turn onto a highway and mid-corner the car started to come out of the turn, i rapidly reacted by turning the steering wheel more and finished the curve, when it straightened out, the steering wheel was off again
(note: when i turn right the steering wheel is off-center to the right; when turning left it comes out off-center to the left almost like something is slipping)
had a local midas, who i’ve always trusted, look at it and they only mentioned that the frame was bent but couldn’t explain why the steering would actually change or slip. I looked at it and noticed I could turn one of the gearbox bolts (spec: 134 lb-ft) with a regular length 3/8″ ratchet without trying. Before i could tighten that down to spec, my car (thankfully without me under it) came down off the stands (was a moron and leaned into the trunk to get something) had it towed to a shop to finish up everything and they also replaced the front sway bar bushings which i also noticed were SHOT.
Can someone think of why the steering is acting like this? would the loose bolt on the gearbox do it? the other one (pass. side) seemed fairly tight (again, I couldn’t torque spec it before crap hit the fan, but it WAS much tighter than driver side one) Shop it’s at now said, they put everything back and it’s still “steering oddly” they recommended an alignment should take care of it. I have lifetime alignment at expert tire and networked shops where I can have it done if that likely would fix the issue. The thing i’m unsure about is that regardless of where the steering axis ends up, the car tracks perfectly straight.
One last note: there is a little bit of play in both wheels when i grab them at 9 and 3 and pull back and forth, none at 12 and 6. (bad end links?) I can’t afford to start replacing parts without them definitely solving the problem after the tranny rebuild drained me. Thank you very much for reading all of that and any advice is greatly appreciated.