I saw that tutorial! but difficult to understand without pictures. would you happen to recommend any other source where I could learn to do this? I see in that thread that multiple people saved copies. I wonder if anyone has one available. I tried doing what was stated at the end of that thread which was use a paperclip to position the lever in the correct place but that didnt seem to solve the issue.You need to properly reset the keyless works, there's no way around that. There is a tutorial here on RWI but unfortunately the pictures seem to be not available any more. When the keyless reset is done the stem will click into position and stay there until you press the release again. You have most probably pressed the release too hard and fouled the keyless that way.
Wear and tear is not impossible, but a bit unlikely unless you use much force when manually winding it by habit. The threads have nothing to do with it, they are merely there to hold the crown.
Best of luck.