Jeff, There was a little play in the box before I rebuilt it and since I was doing a frame off and I had rebuilt the rest of the steering components I decided to rebuild the steering box. I am glad I did, since the guy I bought the truck from had sandblasted the entire truck prior to painting it and when I removed the steering shaft from the steering box I found the column full of sand that would have gotton past the bearing into the box over time and destroyed it. I do plan on changing the upper steering mast bearing, because it seems to have some side to side play. When looking for a replacement mast bearing I found the ones for my truck were quite expensive and the picture of the part did not exactly match the one I had. The one I had seemed to match the ones that were used in car applications and they are 1/3 of the price of the truck ones. Then I remembered that my 54 GMC originaly had a 228 w/ a hydromatic transmission when it came out of the factory. Some where along the way it was changed over to a Chevy 261 and SM420 4-spd transmission. So I am wondering if the steering box and column are original to my truck, since it would have had a column shifter and mine does not. Could the PO have removed the column shifter parts and still be able retain the orginal steering column or do you think he replaced the steering column and box all together?
