mine had a bit of slop in it (i could move the tube about an inch either way in RA) and i thought the same Ken, but in the end i figured i didnt want to fork out for a new head because i was too scared to try to fix the one i had, and what would happen if the new one was the same
i didn't end up having to pull the whole mount down, just the 2 plastic covers over the gears and the motors, it ended up being a nut that was so loose it could have fallen off
it was one of these nuts behind the drive gear:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/174/4...16ccc77e_o.jpg
and it was causing the whole worm/shaft to rock back and forth
all it took was a few screws to take the covers off and a grub screw that was holding the RA drive gear onto the shaft, now its rock solid in both RA and DEC