In your first picture, I notice the shaft is protruding pretty far into the joint. Make sure its not hitting as you rotate the steering column.
on the 4th picture, I cannot tell if the bearing retainer is installed correctly. The bearing should be sandwiched between the bearing retainer plates with nothing in between. Not one on each side of the firewall. This will cause excessive slop in the bearing. It looks like from the picture that its installed wrong.
Mike