The bolt on the side of the box is only for setting backlash in the steering gears. The sector gear (called sector shaft in the manual) is thedriven gear to the pitman orm, it meshes with the ball nut, which rides on the worm shaft. When I mentioned "ball track", I'm referring to the machined groove in the worm gear itslelf. The ball nut has a similar track machined into it. Whith the lower plate off, it could be very easy for the worm shaft to turn in the housing without moving the ball nut or sector gear, then when the bottom plate and worm bearing adjuster are reinstalled, the worm may no longer be centered.
Did you do the repair in the truck? Or on the bench? Might need some more disassembly if the pitman arm suggestion doesn't work. May need to pull the side cover to get things recentered properly.
