Possible steering box problem

[COBALT]

Over a year ago the '99 tahoe we inherited starting having steering problems. I had already looked it over pretty good when I first got it, but the noise in the steering one day got my attention. It turns out the ps pump was leaking badly, and the hoses appear to be worn out. It looked like a slow leak suddenly turning into a bad one. I checked the reservoir and sure enough it was pretty much empty. I filled it back up again just to see how long it would take to empty out - not long at all. That's really bad.

I replaced the pump and the lines without too much difficulty, and the steering felt 110 % better, but I noticed some play in the wheels now when I have them up on stands with the steering locked.

Both wheels can be moved a bit by pushing on one side of the tire while pulling on the other. This doesn't seem to be isolated at one wheel, and I was having a hard time identifying exactly what was wrong - the tie rods seem to be in pretty good shape. I managed to get down on my side and push the back of the wheel with my foot while pulling on the front, and watch the idler arm and steering linkage when I did this. The play is at the pitman arm. It looks as though the steering box is letting the wheels turn a bit.

Ok, so I'm thinking the steering box was probably damaged by that leak way back when. Thoughts?

Another issue that I found. If I push on the top of the wheel and pull on the bottom (and vice versa) there's a tiny bit of play as well, but it's more distinct - there's a bit of a clunk, and the exact same amount of movement on both sides. Pulling and pushing on the wheel in and out yields no movement, and I'm not hearing any wear when I spin the wheel at all, so I think the bearings are fine, but I'm worried about the upper/lower ball joints. I don't see any play in the A-arms when I do this either. I've seen bad ball joint wear on these 2wd suspensions, and this doesn't look familiar to me, but things aren't tight and that has me wondering.