post a picture of the shaft. The linkage I bought new is all pretty tight tolerances, it move but stiffly & all the new ball joints & misc steering components I've installed over the years are all like this when new. When David says you can move it with your finger he's correct but it should take some fair amount of effort & not just slip around easily. Of course David might have superman fingers & its a piece of cake for him.

Sometimes there actually very stiff at first, try greasing the joint, put a nut on it, lock it in a vise & put a pipe over the shaft & start wiggling, it should loosen.