lower steering shaft clamp to steering gear loosening up

[Superdawg]

Just got back from a long, fantastic road trip to Colorado. During the trip, I noticed more slop in the steering. During breaks in the rain, I climbed (?) underneath the truck and found the lower steering shaft clamp bolt had loosed up where it attaches to the splines at the top of the steering gear. I tightened the clamp bolt very tight which improved things but it seems to still rock around a little bit, like the splines on one side have been wobbled out a little. I tightened it so tight I started to round the head off the little bolt. I replaced the bolt with a longer one and added a locknut to the other side. Still seems to rock around a little. The steering gear is a stock gear (2004 model) rebuilt by Redhead. The shaft is stock (2004).



In my experience, the splined top on the 2004 gear is slightly smaller than the newer bigger steering gear that Dodge superceded to.



Anyone else have a similar issue? Maybe I need to price out a lower steering shaft if the splines there are wobbled out a little.

thanks,

Tom