Jeff,
Rebuilding all the steering components with the newer parts is one of the best things I ever did to my 54. Make sure you also follow the rebuild manual and buy yourself a steering box rebuild kit. It is important to get the mast shaft bearings properly preloaded. This is an oversite by alot of guys who still have loose steering and have just continued to crank down on the sector gear lash adjustment. To make sure you have the mast bearings loaded correctly you also need to back off the sector gear lash completely. The shop manual does a great job explaining all this.

The forged type drag link and forged tie rod ends really improve the tightness. I have also updated my ball type wheel bearings to the new timken roller type. Combine all this with a fresh set of king pins and bushings and gas filled shocks and I guarantee you will not believe how nice the truck steers and drives. The best thing of all, it is all stock looking. Long live the straight axle.