blew something up inside my steering box?!

well I took redfish's advice and replaced it all, but unfortunetly im still having some trouble. the steering box was an A1 cardone reman. got it installed and found the steering to be very stiff, even after bleeding the system a several times.

when i was comparing the boxes side by side i noticed that on my old box i could grab the splined shaft that the pitman arm was on, and twist it by hand. However on the new box i could not twist hard enough by hand to make it turn. is that normal? is it supposed to be that tight? or could the box bad? I can feel some power assist but no where near as much as the old set up.

Also after reinstalling everything the steering wheel is off center a bit (the 12 o'clock position on the wheel is at about 10 o'clock when driving strait) ....im 90% sure i lined the splines up right on the pitman arm and steering coupler properly with the wider grooves on the shafts. (wouldn't it only go on if they were lined up??) And i did not toutch the tie rod adjusting sleaves or anything alignment related. Is it possible that the two splined shafts on the box are not propperly alligned inside the steering box?

I'm concidering pulling it and sending it back, especially if you guys think its a bad box too, but its a tough call to 'disable' my daily driver while i wait for another box to be sent.