I thought a thread on steering gears would be a good idea. Rag joint slop in steering is one source of slop in steering, but the gear is another popular place.
The gear can be damaged by adjusting the sector gear too far into mesh with the worm/ recirculating ball usually resulting in at best binding up the steering.
I don't know why the sector gear wears other than bad oil. This same design gearbox has lasted decades on most cars - maybe the 4wd wears these faster. I think mine is shot.. 2" play . Making adjustment took maybe 1/2" out of slop.
I have read that steering gears from other GM vehicles work as replacements for Blazers/Jimmys. I was hoping that if anybody has any knowledge if this is true please post here.