Heres a quickie! My dads 2004 grand Cherokee overlander has a very sloppy steering wheel. a good inch of play before the tires turn. This play comes directly from the steering box. the input shaft will turn but the output shaft wont right away. and this is in both directions. Ive tried adjusting the nut/allen on the steering box but it didn't make a difference. is this a rebuild candidate or is something like this better off with a new box.

 

your steering shaft is both telescopic and has a small u-joint in there. a lot of times, that u-joint gets sloppy, just like drive shaft joints.
i would look into that, you should be able to see it from under the hood behind the brake master.