Ford Repair: 89 Ford F250 4.9L Straight 6 Y vin Letter... How to Tighten the steering, tie rod ends, ford f250

Question
I have just bought the above vehicle (89' Ford F250 4.9L Straight 6 Y vin Letter) and the steering is extremely loose. I can turn approx. 5-7 inches on the steering wheel before it starts to turn the wheels. Is this something i could just tighten up or will i need to order a part to fix it properly? It has powersteering. What tools will i need and just a basic overview of the steps should suffice. Thanks much in advance. Phil

Answer
first you need to get under vehicle and have someone turn the wheel 5-10 inches at a time and look for the slack mainly tie rod ends you can replace them your self but then it will need aligned-there may be a bad rag joint on end of steering shaft where it goes into steering gear also can be replaced by u but you won't need alignment-this comes in a kit aftermarket and should have instructions-i like factory ones if still available. on the tie rod ends one will be long and one very sort-you can remove them by taking nut off of stud then hitting with hammer next to where stud goes through and it should break loose.