Appreciate all the comments and feedback you guys.
I reached out to Brian @Borgeson this morning and asked him for advice / direction re: proper approach to this.
His response is as follows:
...The tapered length of the pitman shaft on the factory gearbox vs our new design gearbox may be different resulting in the differences in torque specs to seat the pitman arm completely on the pitman shaft. The gap between the pitman arm and the dust boot is not unusual as the pitman arm will only travel so far until it seats on the taper pitman shaft...You can go ahead and use 20 more ft lbs. than the 100-120 listed in the instructions but I would not exceed 140 ft lbs...
Obviously, I am NOT sharing this as applicable to all similar inquiries, however this was his response to mine.
