Good job on the washer! Your second picture shows how they got their spacing messed up at the factory. That hole for the adjustment screw should be about .050-.060 to the right and it would capture the gib as it should. It looks to me that a new gib wouldn’t solve a thing. At this point your fix is the best solution for the least effort.
Take the time to make yourself a solid tool post, you’ll be glad you did. I only put my compound on if I need to cut a taper, so it’s rarely on the machine for my use so far. One advantage that I have is that my used machine came with an Aloris BXA QCTP and I had already acquired a used one before getting the lathe. So I can leave a QCTP on each setup making the swap quicker. Might be worth watching the sale section here for a deal.