As long as the nut & bolt are'nt rusted away its worth a try. Just make sure you tighten the nut with 2 different make 12 point wrenches. I had to grind a notch on one the wrenches to get added throw. Its a slow process but saves a ton of work.

What you are tightnening is differen tthen what was previously discussed, the tiller arm can create slop in the steering but if it the slop is between the gimbsl ring and the pivot shaft it aint gonna cure it. The easiest way to see what the problem is is to look at the the pivot shaft from the bottom side, just ontop of the gimbal housing, while you wiggle the drive back and forth, if the pivot shaft stays still while the gimbal ring moves the problem is in in the pivot shat no the tiller arm. If you do not find the play there then you can go insisde the boat and remove the Brazil Valve (if you don't have hydrualic steering) and see if you can wiglgle the tiller arm without the drive moving, if so what Cig1988 is talking about is whats needs to be done, if you still have not found the play there then it is time to change the steering cable and possibly the helm.

I also have side to side play with my Bravo. When I move the drive the arm moves inside the boat with the drive. I was told some play goes away when you start the boat and the hydrualic steering is in use. Is that correct. But when I checked my boat with a Volvo drive there was no play in the drive at all.

Russ

so, if you are adding steering you still need to fix this first? or will it not really matter?

I personaly think it should be fixed either way some people will argue though. Slop in the gimbal ring can lead to gimbal ring failure and at high speeds that could be nasty. The other issue is that once the pivot pin has room to slop around it will take out the seal as well which will leak water into the boat.