CONCLUSION:

Didn't want to let this thread hang without conclusion. After the road trip, and driving it around one more day with super stiff steering, it suddenly, overnight, decided to loosen up. I'm not joking.

Since mid-January my steering has been quite nice. It has pressure when turning and wants to return. The pump is kind of noisy but I've read that about replacement pumps. It still has a leak but I'll worry about that when it warms up. The new Redhead gear is miles better than the first one I got. I believe that was the break-in period. While it doesn't steer as nice as it did at 50,000 miles or like rack and pinion trucks, it does steer like new 2500s and so I'm content with that.

Just to review: I'm running on a second Redhead as first was bad, Moog T steering that required modification to keep ball joints from twisting, and nothing else. No stabilizer or DSS. There's no play, a little bump steer but I've gotten used to it, and decent return to almost 12 oclock. Alignment is 0 toe and 3.7 castor.

I am exhausted with this so I'm moving on to the vibration that can't be solved. . .