The 123 steering box is simlar in basic design to the 124 box, in that they are both recirculating ball type, but that's it. The 124 box is far, far more robust than the 123 and almost never needs adjustment (I've never heard of a 124 box ever having enough play to need 'tightening', which is practically part of standard maintenance on a 123, lol). Checking the friction is really only needed during a steering gearbox rebuild, and since Bodhi hadn't done that, I'm pretty sure this would be a non-issue.

Bodhi, your front-end parts are all pretty recent, and 80k on the LCA bushings ain't bad either - a few little cracks are meaningless. The wandering you describe is either tires or alignment, or a combination of both...