Emergency please help

I did what u guys said. i took the steering wheel off the 89 column i brought and the lockplate both using the preferred tools. then i removed the turn signal screw and arm and then the 3 cam screws, thats when i removed the hazard switch then i moved the cam out of the way and took out the scew for the lock cylinder when i took the cylinder out,
I was able to turn and take the key out? with no problem!
I then put the new cylinder in and i tried to put the scew in and it didnt seem to go in so i tried to make sure the key was in the off position and then i tried to take out the key and same problem it didnt want to come out but when i removed it and turned it a little it cam out

i noticed that the key doesnt actually line up with the little mark (lock) on the cylinder housing when its turned to the off position. whats the deal any ideas?
I have the column still out off the jeep, i want to make sure everthing works right before i put it in.

thanks

Not sure, but I do know the last one I changed, the parts guys gave me the wrong lock assy. Seems there are about 5 variations, very small differences, so look closely at the old and new one, and make sure they are exactly the same head to toe. Could have been that my column was from a JY pull, different year.

but how does that explain why the old cylinder doesnt let the key out either
i can see that the cylinder it self goes in slightly off from where i think it suppose to because the little line on the cylinder doesnt line up with the lock mark on the housing

also the piece that the lock cylinder engages on seems to be whats stopping the lock from goin all the way to the stop and in doing so since its not all the way the key wont come out.

I know this because i put the cylinder in little by little to see what the ptoblem was and as soon as the cylinder gets turned just a little to engage onto the piece inside of the housing the cylinder itself can no longer go all the way to the stop and the key doesnt come out and this is with the cylinder that was already in the column to cause i didnt have a key to it so that why i had to change it. when i tried putting my old key into the cylinder that came with the column it worked and turn the switch but i couldnt get the key back out thats why i desided to chande the cylinder in the first place
if it helps its a 89 column
could it be because i ordered a lock from a 88 cherekee or is it still the same part

does anyone know when the lock cylinders differed cause i cant figure this thing out

All I can tell you is I took my old one (took me 2 weeks get the bloody thing out, with out breaking something, other than my ego) to Autozone, and had them pull all the GM locks they had for 85-90 jeeps I was told there are 5, but they only had 3 I think), and lucky me, we found one that was an exact duplicate. It went right in and worked perfectly. The wrong one almost worked, almost went right in, but would not work, key would not come out, etc.

Have you searched for and read the older threads here on key / lock mechanism replacement? You first comments sounded like had, if not do a quick search, one of them, with links to old ones, is one started earlier this year. Just try "lock, Ecomike, and switch" as search parameters in this forum, OEM forum, and it should pop right up.