Pitman Arm Install Question

So I was able to get the jeep buttoned up enough after the lift / SYE / CV Driveshaft install last night to drive it to go see fireworks. That was the good news. The bad news was that that didn't include enough time to install the drop pitman arm. Wow - the bumpsteer was somewhere between scary and dangerous. Just the front end dropping every time I pushed in the clutch was enough to be bothersome.

So, this morning I decided to finish up and install the drop pitman. Got the old one off with great effort (pitman puller + all my strength on breaker bar + BFH beating the hell out of it). It finally came off. Went to put the new one on and it doesn't seem to want to seat all the way. There was probably 1/4" between the stock pitman and the steering box. During round one's install, there was probably 5/8" gap with the nut tightened. Not loving the way this looked, I pulled it off and cleaned the splines on the steering box with a wire brush, and gave them a squirt of WD40 before I attempted round 2. This time, I was able to get the gap down to maybe 1/2". That's with tightening the nut with all my might using a breaker bar.

So, should I be concerned? Should I pull the drop pitman off and bead blast it's splines to remove any paint / shmutz? Should I ignore the gap and be comfortable with my tightened nut? Should I drive it and periodically check? Give me some guidance here, as I've never wrenched on a vehicle with a steering box vs. a rack and pinion.

The good news is that on the test drive the bump steer was all but gone.

If it was me, I'd grease 'er up good, get the trusty BFH and wail away. You've only got another1/4" or so to go. I wouldn't bead blast the splines-to easy to damage them. Make sure they haven't been damaged, and once you're confident it ain't gonna go any more, tighten it up. Keep an eye on it for a little bit, just to make sure, and fagetaboutit.

DO NOT BEAT IT ON. use the nut only using a BFH will mess up the box. 1/2 should be fine theres a slightly tapper to the splines as i recall on most jeeps. If your realy worried about it pull it clean the slpines again remove any internal paint etc then coat the box spline with anti-seeze then warm the pittman arm spline up with a hallogen light for a 1/2 hour (concreat floor pittman arm on floor tip over light on top let sit.) grab some glove and slid it on and tighten as quick as possible.

44

it is tapered. Don't wail on it. You'll wear out the bushings/bearings in the box quick

Some googling showed that it was probably tapered, so I didn't do any wailing. Just tightened the nut and keep it on the observation list. Thanks for the input!

Like I said, "if it was me...." I'd then be in the market for a new steering box.