I see you don't have the Zerk fitting installed in the pic for bearing lube. I was trying to verify we have the same set up and that threw me for a sec
Mine is on a new poll, not sure if that's makes a difference as far as wear on poll plate goes.
Mine is pretty tight, not binding but close, it's wAy tighter than a stock SJ steering. This might be throwing you off....on work stand it's a firm feeling with some effort required to turn the bars, no play at all, this is normal. on The water you don't even notice. So you may need to go tighter and get that play out but stop right before it's binding if that makes sense. It will feel over tight prolly to you at first, But fairly tight and firm steering with effort required to steer it on the work stand is normal
Torque to rotate is prolly around 20 to 25 inch pounds maybe a little more