Now point your wheels straight ahead, disconnect the drag link from the pitman arm, get a helper to hold the steering wheel dead still and try to move the pitman arm toward the front and rear. Doing this will cause your sector gear to work against your ball nut rack inside. With your wheels pointed straight ahead it should be snug, but let's see what happens when you try to move the pitman arm.
With the pitman arm disconnected and my capable wife holding the steering wheel, there was
very slight movement forward and back on the pitman arm. Also, up and down about the same very small movement. The wheel hub also had a very slight movement up and down and forward and back...maybe the king pin? It doesn't seem like these tiny movements would cause 3" steering wheel play.
