That is normal, you will have to periodically tighten the cables up, especially on a new system. I like my cables real tight, they should be fairly tight, when they get loose the steering is sloppy.
The noisy box is strange, they do make noise but its hard to say if its a problem..You can grease the gearbox at the zerk but it will take a decent amount of grease to pack the entire unit, I take the rear cover off and grease each gear when I service mine, I dont use the zerk. Im not suggesting you take the rear cover off though, you might open a can of worms if your not familiar with the system.If you take it off just go slow so you can see whats involved.