@tripndrag: Thank you for your post. I didn't notice anything else moving when my son was at the wheel turning it left and right, but I'm thinking I will do it again and look at the things you mentioned.

 

They may have just gotten the gearbox a little tight.

 

Why would they mess with the steering box on an alignment?

However, since they did that, AND an alignment, why didn't they then take the truck on a test drive? This doesn't make any sense, steering box is nothing to fool around with.

Will steering "return to center"? When rounding a turn, the driver can let go of the steering wheel, and it will spin by itself back to straight ahead. Betcha it doesn't now. At worst, it will completely lock up.

I'd pretty much have a new, full time hobby at this point, camping out at their shop till they fixed what they ****ed up.

 

They have it on the lift now. The mechanic and I went for a ride first. After the ride, and after he looked at it initially, he said I need ball joints. I don't doubt that at all, but if I need them now, I needed them two weeks ago, and as I have said, it drove much better before the alignment. Now I am seeing that they probably should not have done the alignment with bad ball joints, and they should have come out and told me that, instead of attempting an alignment. The guy who is working on it now is not the original guy.
So they finished, realigned it, I drove it, and now it's about as good as it was before the original alignment two weeks ago. He confirmed my 1/2" toe-in with his measurement, and brought it much closer. I will probably measure again tomorrow or Saturday with a tape measure as I did before.
In spite of it all, the shop was professional in addressing my issues. Of course as always, I have new stuff to get, but there is nothing new about that.
And yes, when finances allow, I will research, obtain tools, replace my ball joints and probably the tie rod ends, and re-align.
Thank you all for your posts and suggestions!

 

Yes, keep an eye on all the rivets on each side of the vehicle frame where the suspension mounts and steering joints as well as the steering box when the wheel is turning back and forth and don't jack it off the ground, you want the pressure on everything just like when your driving it on the road. It was all cracked behind my steering box and it was moving when you turned the wheel.

Also if you get steering parts, I went through RockAuto.com and got everything at a really reasonable price. I installed all of it myself and then just ran it down for an alignment when I finished. I went with moog steering parts after going to a few part shops and checking out the parts in person, there is a big difference in parts let me tell you! I received a very cheap looking tie rod end in one of the moog boxes when I got my order. I sent it back and got one of the sturdy ones the next time but thought it was very strange. If I would have received 2 and not gone looking at the auto parts store I may not have even noticed. It couldn't be greased though so I would have tried to find some that took grease but still. The moog parts are really big, you can grease them and seem like a much better part. I am not sure what the heck they sent me the first time in one of the boxes but it was junk. Just be aware. I attached photos of the parts and boxes they came in. RockAuto was happy to replace it.

 

Ford used the same tie rod ends for a looong time. It's crazy to put cheap crap in a box on our trucks. They don't cost much, or shouldn't.