STEERING BOX ADJUSTMENT:
I would NOT adjust the screw on the top of the steering box. It's not meant to be adjusted on-car. I've seen trucks go 300k miles and didn't need steering box adjustment. More than likely no adjustment is needed on yours, and it's within spec. More than likely, your truck has other steering looseness, like a slightly worn intermediate shaft (only takes a micro-amt of intermediate shaft play to cause excess steering wheel movement), loose ball joints, steering link ends, etc, or possibly all of the above.
The way every steering box manual says to adjust a saginaw-style steering box is to remove from the truck and on the bench or in a vise, loosen all the adjustments. THEN set the pre-load, then ...and only after the preload is adjusted, then adjust the top screw which is the sector adjustment.
There will always be SOME steering wheel free-play on a typical P/S box b/c the input shaft is actually TWO shafts with a small amount of engineered-in 'freeplay'. That engineered-in freeplay is the valving used to port fluid one way or the other. That's why the manuals tell ya to NOT adjust the screw (steering box) on the vehicle. That screw is not meant to be adjusted on-vehicle. Of course a lot of guys do it, but it's just going to prematurely wear your steering box out. Like I say, more than likely your steering looseness if you have any comes from a micro amount of wear in the intermediate shaft (which is fairly common on Rams).
Chevy Truck Example:
A few yrs ago I removed the steering box from my 1989 Chevy 1500 4x4 short box which I am restoring, which has 278,000 miles on it. I've owned it for more than 26 years so I know the history. It hasn't been abused. I've rebuilt a few steering boxes, I was just curious how that one faired and if it needed to be rebuilt. Guess what? in the vise, the in-lb resistance was still within adjustment! So I loosened the top screw and checked the preload and it was also within spec (on the low end, but still in spec). I loosened all the adjustments and did not fee any free-play in any of the bearings. I re-adjusted it back to spec again and put it on. In the process I discovered my truck's intermediate shaft was rather loose, and one ball joint was sloppy (the rest of the steering I had re-done a few yrs earlier). Now it drives a lot tighter. Really nice. I had a buddy who's Suburban had something like 325k miles on it. He replaced all the ball joints and steering parts other than the steering box. It drove tight like a new vehicles afterwards. The point is, those style of steering boxes can go a LONG time w/o adjustments.
Corvette C3 Steering Box:
On the other end of the spectrum, I worked on a guys' Corvette manual steering box. The top bearing the balls and lower race was all rusted (probably from washing the engine compartment and putting the car in the garage...rather than running it to 'cook' the water out -- it's near the exh manifold). And there was definitely a bit of wear in the lower output shaft bronze bushing. So the input shaft pre-load was 'loose' due to the rusted sloppy bearing. That was problem number 1. And the output shaft had a small (but definitely noticeable) amt of wear on the output bushing. Problem #2. It only takes a small amt of freeplay in order to feel 'slop' at the steering wheel. Also his car's rag-joint was worn ...Problem #3. And the relay valve on the center link was worn. Problem #4. Replaced all the box bearings and the big bronze bushing, new rag joint, rebuilt the relay valve. She steers tight as new now!! The rest of the parts, while not new, were not sloppy so we left them. Probably he could have gained a small amount more by replacing the A-arm bushings.
Anyway, point is: if you need to adjust your truck's steering box, or replace the output seal, remove it from the truck and adjust the input shaft resistance per the book's specs. It takes a sensitive low-reading inch/lbs torque wrench (not a harbor freight one) ...so you might take it to a shop and have them do it (print out the process and specs for them). Should be real cheap. Lot of guys do that and get it adjusted pretty much on the spot .. ...maybe while you wait.
