Abstract: An integral steering gear for a motor vehicle includes a plunger supported on a pitman shaft of the steering gear for linear bodily movement in a plane perpendicular to the centerline of the pitman shaft and a leaf spring between the plunger and the pitman shaft biasing the plunger into engagement on a rack piston of the steering gear. The plunger urges the pitman shaft and rack piston in relative separation to eliminate linear clearance between a housing of the steering gear and each of the rack piston and pitman shaft. The plunger also urges the rack piston to limited rotation whereby straight rack gear teeth on the rack piston are wedged against straight sector gear teeth on a sector of the pitman shaft to eliminate angular clearance between the teeth.