steering wheel shaft

I can't picture where you describe the lost motion to be. It should have a steering shaft, a box coupling, and the shaft of gear box. Maybe a pic of something would help.
That is my next step. I am going to try and take a picture of the problem area. Then I have to learn how to post it here. The area I am speaking of is where there is , what appears to be, a joint where the steering shaft top half joins with the bottom half. There is a slot and what appears to be a pin in this slot. The pin moves about 1/4 - 3/8 inch before it actually starts to turn the wheel. A 1/4 - 3/8 delay in connecting in this area translates into about 1-2 inches of free play in the steering wheel.