tommywass

I just purchased a 1998 K1500 Suburban. I'm really looking forward to road trips in this vehicle but I need to iron out a steering issue first. I've read a lot concerning the steering sensor but let me explain the symptoms and what I've done so far and see if any of you have some insight.
So far I've replaced the tie rod ends, upper and lower ball joints, idler arm, steering box and steering sensor. I have no visible play in all those components.
When I bought the vehicle I test drove it and the steering seemed pretty loose (not really play, more just easy to turn the steering wheel). I got home and hooked up a pop-up trailer and headed to the highway. When heading down the highway I began to overcorrect. The whole time I was out there it was a handful just to keep it going straight.
I replaced the steering box first and when finished, the steering wheel was no longer centered when going down the road. The steering wheel has to be turned about 20 degrees to the right in order to drive straight. I began to notice that now when I turn left, there is a little bit of resistance I have to fight through and then the wheel loosens up as I continue to turn the wheel. There's none of this resistance when I turn right. I pulled the sensor wire at the steering pump and the left turn resistance went away and the steering wheel was very loose through the whole range of turns, left and right. If I plug the wire back into the pump, the left turn resistance comes back. I've also noticed that when coming out of a turn, the car doesn't want to fully return to a straight track down the road. I'm not sure if that's related or not.
I also installed the steering sensor after all the other work that I've done. I think I messed up the install. I have some questions about that. Do I need to "clock" the sensor or just click the old one out of the housing and click the new one in? It seemed easy, but afterward the steering wheel is now rotated 180 degrees from where it was before. I test drove it like that and it didn't drive any different. Still had the loose steering and the slight resistance in the left turns. I assume the wheel just turned 180 degrees when I was doing the install and now I just have to pull the shaft, rotate 180 and put it back on.
I'm wondering if the steering wheel not being centered after my steering box installed will cause the sensor not to function correctly. I'm sure it being upside down after the sensor install isn't helping.
I'm looking for any insight on this situation. Do you think I should fix my messed up sensor install by separating the steering shaft and rotating it 180 and hooking it back together, and then follow that up with an alignment to take out the slightly right steering wheel (from my box install) to make it straight again? I guess the question is, for my new sensor to operate correctly does the steering wheel have to be totally straight when driving straight and (assuming I separate the shaft and rotate 180) have I installed the sensor correctly?
Sorry for the long post!