I want to update you all on what I found. The tiller play was because the previous owner had taken the broken base of the tiller and glued it back together (and added lots of screws) then put it back in the tiller head. Quite a mess. I didn't trust it, so I found a new tiller at https://store.ruddercraft.com/index....product_id=571. I was surprised that they had a commander tiller and was pleased with the product. It has served me well and I kept the old tiller as a backup.