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I had that happen with a Celica I had once - it turned out there was a crack in the power steering fluid reservoir and the fluid had run out, so the belt was making the sound. Since on the Celica the pump is mounted to the engine, it was hard to find a used one and I didn't have the money for a new one, so I put that Gunk brand leak stopper in the it and it pretty much did the trick to stop the leaking.
The other thing to look at would be the ball joint; I understand it makes a bad "cracking" noise too if it's going bad.
Last thing I'd look at is the lower control arm. I had a Pathfinder that did the same thing your 4Runner is doing, mostly when I was going in reverse though (and cranking the wheel all the way to the right). I subsequently found out that the lower control arm brackets were basically shot - there were bolts missing and the bushings were just blown or had crumbled to just plain missing. The lower control arm was actually just resting in the bracket, nothing really holding it in but gravity. Scary. I had both brackets replaced, the lower control arms replaced as well, and the problem went away.
First thing I'd do is check your power steering fluid, make sure you have enough in there. Next is to take it to a shop and have the CV and ball joints looked at, and while it's on the rack, have a good look at the lower control arms.
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