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My steering is so loose it takes a quarter turn before the wheels start moving. is there anything I could tighten up to help this or is it just age? I like the idea of the power steering swap so that may be an option too.

Thanks for any help

There is an adjusment on the steering gearbox itself you might try. There is a lock nut with a screw driver adjustment in the center. With the wheels straight ahead, loosen the lock nut a bit and turn in the screw until it stops, then back off a bit about 1/8 turn, and while holding the screw in position retighten the lock nut. Then try the steering full lock from left to right to make sure nothing binds. It is a trial and error thing but may help when you get it right.
If this dosen't help you may have too much wear in the steering linkage joints.
Best is to have a buddy turn the wheel back and forth lightly while you look for play in the joints somewhere.

Thank you for the great info

Mine was just as you described, I adjusted as egg said and replaced all of the ball jts and tie rods. I thought man this thing should be tight as hell since all were worn and one of the inner tie rods was real bad. Unfortunately not . I saw on TV where you shouldn't do the adjustment on your steering box with pressure on it. In other words disconnect the center linkage from the pitman. I was able to take more of the slack out that way. Mine is still not what I would call good but it's no longer a quarter turn as you described. Be careful though I've also heard that if you over tighted the gears in the box you will do more damage in the long run.

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1980 4x4 - Hunt'n truck 9yrs only seen pavement to the gas station. Gets a little spooked when it sees another vehicle.

Yes ideally you should jack up the front wheels and have the weight off them but I have had good luck doing it this way too. The main thing is you want to have the slack removed but not binding up any where. With the weight off the wheels this would be easy to check out. Make sure the steering box has lube in it also, usually SAE 80-90 gear lube.