I guess Im normally between the Ford Truck Enthusiast and FB. Mostly look at FB just for the entertainment valve of the misguided responses. I have also spent the last 2 years with my focus on my 1990 F250 that I'm restoring.

Give these folks a call:
https://redheadsteeringgears.com/contact

It'll break again. In fact, I'll bet if you look closely at it, you will see that it was repaired at least once before. What I did was buy 2 3/8" ball joints and a threaded rod at ACE hardware. Eight years later, it is still working as well as when I installed it with no wear in the ball joint...

So sorry for your loss
You and your wife did a great thing by keeping Molly in the family.

John

In my 65, I had 3.70's with my 300 six and 3 speed manual. I found a reared from a 1980 that had a 3.00 ratio. I swapped the yoke and side gears and it has worked out great for what I do with the truck. 2200 rpm at 60 mph instead of 2800 rpm. But if I had a 240 motor I probably would not go that low...