'05 Dakota steering rack problems and questions

Just got this '05 2wd Dakota. 114k miles. Runs and drives good but has a good 2 inches or so of play in the center of the steering wheel. Just plain old dead space there. Me and my son looked the steering over and it seemed clear that the play was in the rack itself. Ordered a reman rack from Detroit Gear. Swapped the racks out and ....surprise...it already had a reman rack in it. Since I was that far into the job, I went ahead and finished the swap. Now there is a little less slop in the center, but it is still there. We checked everything over again and I swear that the looseness is in the rack. But it seems strange to me that the same or very similar issue would be in both racks.

The looseness right in the center is really annoying and makes towing a small trailer a handful. Chinese repop racks are all over ebag. Maybe I should have gone with one of them rather than this reman.

Is this problem common? Is it common to have problems with reman racks in these things? Am I overlooking something else that is the real problem? I have changed my share of racks over the years and have never ran into a situation quite like this one.

Your opinions and experiences would be appreciated.

I have seen where the caged nuts inside the crossmember have been loose and they wallowed out the bolt holes. They don't spin but will move side to side. Check to see if the bolt holes in the crossmember are oblonged, they should be round

I will do that today. Thanks.

Check the u joints in the steering shaft,I have seen alot of loose ujoints.

Will do.