My 85 f150 has about 40 degrees play in the steering, I checked the box and tightened the hex bolt thingy that tightens the cogs Wich helped a good bit but still a good amount of slop so I looked at the steering rod assembly from the wheel to the box, no play, the only play looks to be from the box to the tires and it's the same on my f250 this is the twin I beam setup for both and they both look to be the same outside of the f250 using a different connector between the steering rod and box what would be causing all of this slop

 

You need to have a helper with the motor off rock the steering wheel left & right to where it gets hard.
Open the hood and if you have the plastic cover over the steering shaft & box remove it.
You can then start checking the steering system.

Now the helper can rock the wheel.
Checking the sheering shaft there is a rubber joint between the steering shaft & box called a rag joint, this can fail and cause play.
If no play at the joint check the output of the box if you have movement of the box to the frame the box needs to be pulled and the frame checked for cracking and repaired.

If the box is tight to the frame you should have movement out of the box.
From what you said of making an adjustment on the top of the box and it helped a little the box needs to be replaced. Look at the Blue Top or Red Head boxes I would not waste my time on a reman one.

Now even if you have a little play in the box you can still check the rest of the system.
Helper still rocking the wheel check the tie rod at the box, there should be no play.
Follow the rod down to each wheel and check for play at the tie rods at the wheels.
Any play they need to be replaced.

Now you will need to jack the front wheels off the ground and support the truck.
Grab the wheel top & bottom and shake it checking for play.
Do the same front & back checking for play.

There is a way to check ball joints but not looking at a truck with ball joints I cant say how to go about doing this.
But you will need something to pry up the wheel like you are going to flip the truck over. Think that will check the upper joint.
You may need to support the beam to and do the same think to check the lower joint.
Good luck.
Dave ----

 

So as usual after about a half hr or so drive today the accelerator peddle started to become difficult to depress again, so I pulled it over and tried to depress it by hand. No budge. Popped the hood and looked at the throttle cable, it was fine, looked at the actual throttle, trying to rev it by hand and bingo. It wouldn’t turn. (You know what I’m talking abt, the spring type thing that the throttle cable attaches to) and boy I mean it was stuck. Like it was welded. Then just like that it started moving again. Effortlessly. I unhooked the throttle cable during all this to make sure it wasn’t the cable acting up somehow. Now I have previously sprayed it with carb cleaner when I cleaned the carb the other day on the chance that it might be mucked up, so now I’m wondering what to do now? Should I spray some WD40 on it or what should be the next step?

 

****. Sorry abt posting on your thread, I accidentally posted my question on yours because I read it last but was trying to post on mine. Much apologies.