I am having alot of play in the steering, and more then usual effort needed to steer. With 330,000 miles on the truck I'm not surprised. I have tracked the play to the steering box as well, so it's gotta be replaced. Summit has a standard 16:1 box and a 12:1 box for the same price.

Stacey David put a 12:1 box in his copperhead buildup (at least I am pretty sure he did) and said driveability was not any worse off, but I wanted to post the question up here to see if anyone has done this box, and how it was for them if they had.