77 power steering

[rolltider]

I ve had my first eb about 6 weeks now its a 77 all stock I've put good rubber all around and covered my seats and am really enjoying this beast of a truck. BUT the steering wheel has play in it. So I took the shaft off the box to check the splines and the box splines are good and the ones in the u joint are fair does the joint screw off the shaft or does the pin have to be pressed out? Also steering binds up more turning right more than left under load so I raised it off the ground and all binding stops both directions. If I increase the rpms when it binds it frees up. So my questions are is the pump not putting out enough pressure at idle speed, is it the ball joints, steering dampener, steering box binding or what? I can do all this work my self but in the past when I start self diagnosing problems the last part I replace is the culprit and that gets expensive. Any words of wisdom are greatly appreciated.

 

[Stoneman]

I had a decent amount of play, noticed slop in the drag link ball joints when I had a buddy rock the wheel back and forth. I put a new drag link on and that made a huge improvement.

What I learned was, the slop may well reveal itself when you are watching the linkage while another is rocking the wheel.