oh and yes my axles are "phased" so that can be ruled out.
There's the whole "it's gotta be binding somewhere" thought comes to mind but wouldn't I have noticed it while turning the wheels manually lock to lock for an hour. It felt nice and smooth lock to lock, when it was easy and as it got harder to turn by hand since the system was filling up with fluid, still stayed consistent...idk, I'm really at a loss, I've never encountered this before. It done this with hydro assist/steering box which is why I went full hydro thinking/hoping it would fix the issue but nope, still chasing it.
Thanks guys