steering slack

[awedel]

Hi all,
Before I start tearing into my steering column blindly I hope there is someone that knows whats happening here. First off it a 72 Blazer 4x4. If you are sitting in the driver seat and pull on the steering wheel toward you, it will move probably one good inch, then you can push it back to where everything is flush (steering wheel against column with little gap). In the engine compartment, it looks like the bearing with the arrow pointed to it is probably the culprit. The picture shows the bearing out of the housing. When the bearing is out of the housing the steering wheel is flush with the column. When you pull the steering wheel toward you and get the 1 " gap the bearing fits snug in the housing. But when the bearing is in the housing you have the 1" gap from the steering wheel to column.
Any ideas?