Play in the steering wheel

[zentar]

I have the typical old ford truck play.1972 Sport Custom thats been converted to PS and it has about 2 inches of play.How do I fix it?

[fordman]

the first thing to look at would be the rag joint between the column and the steering box. the second woul dbe the steering box. next would be the tie rods and drag link joints. you can replace the rag joints and the tie rods and steering linkages. the box can be adjusted slightly to maybe take up some slack and mesh the gear tighter together. it is a process of tigthening or loosening the stud on top of the box. that moves the center shaft gear up and down. it doesnt take much to move it. it has to be centered for it to work right. if you go to far one way or another it will bind in one direction or another . when you turn.

[willowbilly3]

I was playing in a steering wheel once when I was a kid and got my head stuck, that was some bad steering wheel play.
Seriously it could be any of the already mentioned but most often I find it to be a badly worn steering box and that's not good. They have no pitman bushing, it is just machined into the casting. You can have it machined for a bushing, or better yet a caged needle bearing like chevy uses.