steering gearbox problem

What have you done to troubleshoot the problem? You need two people, and for some tests, the engine running.

Start at the top and work down. They may as an example, have left a piece(s) out of the coupler. have someone move the wheel back and forth through the "play" area. Look at the coupler, and at the shaft from the top to the coupler and at the coupler and the shaft into the box. These should all move in unison with NO play at all.

Now look at the pitman arm and the coupler. You'll have to run the engine for this one. There should be very little play as you change directions, as the shaft moves and the pitman move

Next move on to the pitman arm proper and the center link. There should be NO play as the two of these move, they should move exactly together, otherwise the pitman ball is worn out.

Then move to the idler and watch it. Again, no play between tracking movements of the idler arm and the center link, and it should not move up and down on the pivot

If all this checks out, it's time to move to tie rod ends and ball joints

READ THE FACTORY SERVICE MANUAL!!!! There is a procedure in all of them for checking out play. You can download them free at MyMopar, and some of them there came from the guys here at FABO

Thanks. We did all of the above checks. The coupler and the shaft move well together but the shaft in the gearbox that it's connected to has to move quite a bit back and forth until it begins to move the pitman arm. All the other components are tight from the pitman arm on. Thanks for your information. It's nice to talk to others about this problem. I'm sure soon I'll get it solved with help from people such as yourself. Have a great day!

Steve