Two steps forward, one back

[stickshift_or_walk]

The good news is that after a year of wrenching, we finally fired up the small block in the '69 yesterday !!!
With open manifolds, we juggled the timing a little, tweaked the carb a little, and it was idling smoothly, if not quietly . All the new gauges worked, no bad noises, life is good.

So after topping off the fluids, including the PS pump, we started slowly turning the wheels to work the air out of the new PS box and lines. This truck originally had manual steering, so that was the first time the pump (salvage yard) and gearbox (Autozone) had functioned in this truck.

Suddenly, we have a gusher of PS fluid on the shop floor, so shut it DOWN ! Sure enough, the front cap and seal on the steering gearbox are cockeyed, having popped out of position. So, after exercising the vocabulary and mopping up the mess, we pulled the box for return to Autozone, who has promptly ordered a new one to make good on the deal.

Then last night, running back over it in my head, I'm wondering what we did wrong, if anything. Is there some technique to the initial break-in of a new PS gearbox, or did we just get a bad seal? I thought maybe I'd raise the front end up when we try the next one, but should that matter?

Thanks...SSOW