1265R is now in my garage

[jbcollier]

+1, go with the tighter set-up.  The joint has some wear which is why it is looser in the centre where it normally runs.

[gideon]

Did you grease the cup, tie rod ball, and cup nut interior? Did you remember the spring under the cup?

I cleaned everything carefully, greased everything and definitely have the spring in place and the spring hasn't collapsed.

The joint has some wear which is why it is looser in the centre where it normally runs.

Then I think I'll replace the tie rods, cups and springs to be on the safe side.  I didn't replace them because they looked ok to me, but perhaps that was a false economy.  Maybe the old springs have also compressed with age.

[GavinT]

My theory is that both the tie rods and cups wear as might be expected but the issue only arises when we diligently look to refurbish them.
There's no way to reassemble the 'worn' parts back into their original comfortable orientations with respect to each other and upon reassembly, they seem notchy.

One day, I'll try some valve grinding paste on an old tie rod set to see it it brings them back to 'reasonable'.