New pitman arm and tie rod questions

[vikingsandpintos]

Been working on my daughters truck, a 67 C10,
while I have the week off. I'm converting the manual steering to power steering, and putting fresh suspension parts on the front end.

Today I got the manual gearbox off, dimpled the frame, and got the new PS gearbox on. I'm ready to put the steering stuff on it, but had a couple of questions.....

I put a new pitman arm on the re-manned gearbox I bought. It is a quicksteer stock style gearbox. When the box is centered, there is no play in the pitman arm shaft when I try to move it. As I turn the steering column, I start to get some slop in the pitman arm shaft. At full lock each way the slop is the biggest, but when I put it back to center the slop is gone. Is it because the fluid isn't in it yet, and will be better once I get the pump, ect on it?

The other question is the tie rod ends. I got them from Rock Auto, they are Moog ES370R inners, and Moog ES350L outers. The inners look just like the outers, in that the zerk goes in the opposite side of the stud. The old ones on the truck had zerks that went in the end of the tie rod. These new ones will point the zerk towards the crossmember. Is there going to be enough clearance to grease them when they are on the truck? I got the Moog instead of the cheapies, but not sure if the zerks will be a problem. Anyone have their zerks like this, or have any issues? I plan on assembling them tomorrow, if they are going to work that is!! lol

Thanks for any input, just figure if there are any issues I can correct them before everything is together, trying to save some work... Thanks!

[Wrenchbender Ret]

It is normal for a steering gear to have play when off center.
The inner tie rod ends I've always seen have the zerks on the end like you describe. If they fit otherwise you can get 90 degree zerks to grease from below.