Steering effort for manual 16:1 - should it be this high?

I put a 16:1 PST manual box on my 67 b-body. I had to pull it right back off because it had some slop in the sector shaft. I will say though, I was surprised how easy it was to turn the wheels in the garage standing still. Much easier than a PS box without the engine running. I could do a 1/4 turn on the wheel with one hand, factory steering wheel. 225/70 tires on the front and the air pressure is a little low.
Now...I need to put the replacement box on the car and it is a little tighter than the first box I had on the car, but I don't see that making a huge difference.