I caught what I thought was a good deal from a steering gear rebuilder at Good Guys last weekend - $160 for a remanned box. No core, no shipping costs.

The reason I bought this newish one was that my old box had a bunch of slop - dead area in the wheel before it moved the pitman arm. I tried making the sector shaft adjustments without any progress, so I gave up and searched for a new box.

With this new box, I am having similar issues. There is almost as much dead play in the wheel. I have seen as the wheel moves, the column rotates fine and rotates in time with the box input shaft, but the input shaft rotates up away from the box at least 1/8" upward (like it's a bolt being unscrewed) toward the column before the wheels rotate. Additionally, the output shaft wobbles within this dead play area and causes the pitman to move up and down. Is this normal on Chrysler power steering boxes? Was this factory?

I have a two year warranty on this box, though I'm sure it's just for leak-related problems, not sector shaft problems. So I doubt they'd give my money back.

Any advice, help, or information is highly appreciated. Please prevent me from throwing this steering box through the rebuilder's store window...