Need opinions on this door latch

[jonmc56]

The fact that my driver door wouldn't latch reliably was making me crazy, so a while back I bought a new latch and new relay from a vendor who has a good reputation on here. Things are no better, maybe worse. I've tried various adjustment tips I've seen on here, with almost no difference. The only way I can get the door to latch consistently is to adjust it so that the door hangs out about 3/4" from the body when fully latched.
I finally started looking at the latch more closely, and noticed that the 'gear' (or whatever it's called) has quite a bit of play in it. I'm wondering if this play causes the door to latch initially, then back off enough to come unlatched.
Here's a video of the new latch and the amount of play:
Driver Side New Latch video

Here a video of the passenger side with the older/original latch. It has much less play as you can see, and this door latches fine.
Passenger Latch video

I assume I need to just toss this new latch and try again? Does anyone sell a decent quality latch? (I took a long time to install the latch, then fought with it for nearly a year, so it's way too late to try to return it).

Thanks in advance for any advice.
Jon