steering gear,only 3 1/4 turns. help id please.

[winginit]

Hi, i bought a 1974 f350 DRW 2x4 rollback. the steering gear was shot. i purchased a rebuilt steering gear. i wish i got the numbers off the old gear but i didnt. i brought the core to nappa. the number on the new one is . D7 c-3550-ba. from lock to lock it only turns 3 1/4 turns and the rag joint had to be spread to go on the shaft,\.

can any one ID that number?
are the gear boxes 2wd all the same from 73 to 79 ?
my old box turned 4 turns and thats what the books say so i am confused. was the worm gear cut when they rebuilt it or something? should i return it ? thanks.

[chad67]

Does the truck still turn as sharp as it did before? Lock to lock numbers wouldn't matter to me as long as it didn't limit my turning radius. Is this a power steering box? The D7 prefix denotes a 1977 engineering date, but I am not sure what changes were made...