Today I made an effort to diagnose loose steering in my truck and installed the "Rock Solid Steering" kit from this guy that I bought a few years ago on a whim (realized before installing that it wouldn't fix my problem, but did the install anyway). 

http://rocksolidramtrucksteering.com/

 

I have to saw the wheel back and forth quite a bit, and tightening the box as recommended didn't take much slop out, it required very little change.

 

My intermediate steering shaft has lots of lateral slop in it at the sliding joint, but I couldn't hold one end and rotate the other relative to it (radial slop undetected).  It may be replaced soon, so any suggested brand is welcome.  The rag joint seems to be in fine shape.

I do have a little bit of slop here, but I'm not sure it matters.  I didn't have the column out of the truck to study every facet of how it works, so any advice here is welcome, as well.  The parts book didn't help my understanding in the slightest.  I stole this photo and added my own notes.

Edited August 17, 20222 yr by LorenS
Clarifications were needed!

Funny... I just happen to have a extra steering column laying in the shop but I would have to check and see if it would work for you. It only takes about an hour to swap the steering column out. Later on today when I'm cleaning up the shop I can flip it over and look down in there and see if I can get a photo of anything.