Proper function of an Idler Arm?

'73 Duster. I put my steering back together the other day, so put in a new Idler Arm that I had on the shelf from when I bought a front end kit a while back.

After torquing down the Idler Arm bolt to 70 ft.lbs., the Idler Arm is hard to move back and forth, but when I do move it, it goes where I push it and stays there.

I have always thought that an Idler Arm was intended to provide increasing resistance the further away it got from center in either direction, and that it would normally return to the centered position when you "let go" of the steering wheel, to straighten out the wheels after making a turn.

Is this new Idler Arm functioning properly? Have I been confused all these years?

Thanks