[kzooman83]

I have a '75 big block duster with manual steering. I just replaced the steering gear with a remanufactured unit because the steering was very sloppy, with lots of play on center. Even after swapping the steering gear, there is still some slop on center and I am wondering what other areas I should look at. There does not seem to be any slop at the pitman arm or the steering coupler, but the play has to be coming from somewhere, right? Any ideas?

 

[Bearhawke]

Quick and dirty: park your Duster on some asphalt and have someone slowly turn the steering wheel back and forth while 'eyeballing' everything from the column on down.

 

[tazdevil]

I experienced the same issue, early on. I found that the idler arm and it's bearing were toast. You can watch it move vertically while turning the steering wheel if it is bad. Moog makes a good replacement. Torque for the nut that holds it on the shaft is 65 foot pounds.