Steering rack tie rods

I have been rebuilding my front suspension on my 61 A and after assembling the front drivers side I noticed a small amount of play in the tie rod (not the tie rod end) about 1/16" - 3/16". It is the same on the pass side but not quite as much, maybe 1/16- 1/8. Is this a normal amount of play or do I have a problem with the ball housing or worse. I haven't taken out my dial indicator yet to get an exact measurement but am planning that for this evening. If there should be end float on the tie rods, what might that be? Is there any adjustments that can be made?Hopefully a little end play is normal. I have looked at the Chicagoland MG rack rebuild page and that looks like way to much work for my limited tools and knowledge. Any input on this will be greatly appreciated...Thanks..Norm

Forgot to add that the Tie Rod ends are new.

There should be no play in the inner ball joints. I have never disassembled them, and believe it takes special tools, but there are shims added to adjust for zero play. Unfortunately, at least the ball joint part of that Chicagoland article will probably have to be performed.

http://www.mgaguru.com/mgtech/suspensn/sr101.htm
http://www.mgaguru.com/mgtech/suspensn/sr202.htm
http://chicagolandmgclub.com/photos/a_rack/

There should be no play in the inner ball joints. Unfortunately, it looks like at least the inner ball joint part of that Chicagoland article will have to be performed.

PS That much clearance would seem like an excessive amount of wear. Hopefully it can be repaired by removing shims or grinding like in the Chicagoland article. If not Moss lists a complete rack assembly which appears to include the tie rods. http://www.mossmotors.com/Shop/ViewProducts.aspx?PlateIndexID=64146
The price from lbcarco.com is only $187 which seems rather cheap if yours needs a lot of work. Don't know anything about the quality.

Thanks Jeff, I ordered a new rack from Lbcarco on Friday. After further review of the ball housings the left side was pretty much going to need replaced, so it looks like a replacement rack will be a heck of alot easier way to go.