Manual Steering Adjustment

You say you have the factory manual?
Here just in case.
http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=215220&highlight=steering

I'm thinking you have the cross shaft too tight. 8-11 inch pounds to turn the worm shaft is nothing.
See step 42 "high spot"? I think it should turn fairly freely after that either way.

For one thing you say it turned freely until you made the cross shaft adjustment.
For another thing you had threads showing before and what has changed since you tore it down. The only thing you did was grease it.