Thanks for the responses guys. I was not expecting to hear this.
I checked the parts before assembling them and the guides definitely are seated all the way in the ball nut. I took just the ball nut and the put the guides in it. Looking down the ends you can see the guides and see that they are fully seated and putting the retention part on the center bolt sits high as shown in the picture.
Denny, I was looking at your pictures last week trying to confirm if the center bolt sitting higher was normal and I actually laid a straight edge across my monitor on one of your pictures and it looked like the center bolt was higher on your steering box. I am glad you responded and set me straight that this was not the case. These are the pictures I was looking at.
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/123293084/originalhttp://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/123293044/original
