Concerning Issue After Fork Oil Change 03 KX250

Currently changing the oil in the forks on my 03 KX250 which is a pretty simple job since the forks are the 48mm KYB Open Chamber Forks as compared to the Later Twin Chamber designs.
I have a service manual and followed it verbatim and my issue is that after completing one fork leg and putting it back together exactly as it came apart, i noticed the spring isnt preloaded anymore like it used to when i unscrewed the cap from the damper rod. I had to hold the spring down to get a wrench on the rod and use a socket to unscrew the fork cap. NOTHING was displaced as far as parts above the spring. The metal cup, plastic spacer, min bumper, and plastic collar the slips inside the fork cap were all put back exactly as they were when i removed them.
Not only is the spring a little loose with freeplay and i can hear it rattle around when i shake the fork but the compression and rebound adjusters dont seem to be effective and maybe thats just in my head but i maxed them both out to fully closed and the fork action really didnt change. YES i put the rebound adjuster rod back in the damping rod .... like i said everything was put back together exactly as it came apart and nothing weird happened on disassemble or reassembly.
Due to the spring not having preload on it there is about an inch of slop at the VERY top of the stroke.
None of this is very drastic but it is something ive noticed so if anybody has any advice on whats going on here ir if the spring just needs to seat itself better, please let me know.