is there any way to get rid of cable slop or slack for trim indicators, so maybe I can get a better idea of what angle the drive is at. thank you.

sounds like weak springs in the activator tube mounted on the drive. good luck.

sorry I dont have the cylinder style,I have the bracket that mounts on the top of the drive and at the pivot point.

575, perhaps your cable (morse 33c, I presume) isn't adequately bundled and is flexing. -jeff

The spring doesn't effect the lash in the cable. Older blue water panels had springs behind the dash panel to hold the pointers.
You can with some creative ingenuity use a throttle type spring to hold tension on the cable and eliminate the cable lash.