An inch is huge in my book. There is no way to control the alignment with that much movement, thus it is "squirrely".

I have always felt that there should be essentially no play in the pins and just a tiny bit in the bearings. Some toe in takes care of that under normal driving and makes the steering feel solid. Some folks like the bearing tight, I like a very little play.

I have no experience with swapping axles, I have only overhauled to factory specs, someone else will need to help with that.

Mac :{)

1962 K10 short step side, much modified for rally
1969 T50 fire truck, almost nos, needs a few things