Steering coupler kicking my ***...

It looks really dry. I always lube them up. Some nice gooey, tacky grease might help.

Also, maybe try taking the shoes off and flipping them over. It looks like they maybe on wrong. Flat part towards shaft, curved part towards coupler. See this picture from a service bulletin.

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Here's another picture I just found on FBBO. The drawing PY22 on which this is based shows a "less assembled" version of the above. Note the shape of the shoes and how they're oriented on the pin. I think yours may be assembled differently. I'm not sure, it's hard to see in your picture. For now, ignore the stuff about the master spline.
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Everything was lubed up nicely.. I wiped it all down when trying to figure out what the issue is.. and, the shoes are on correctly.. mine look just like the service manual pix and are installed just how they came out....(my before and after pic)...unless I'm missing something, which is always completely possible..lol