Thank you everyone for your replies, they have been very helpful! After making sure everything is clean and seating the washers in multiple different configurations, I have come to the conclusion that the way this scope is mounted is the real source of the issue. There's a sleeve and washer made of sticky plastic and too much pressure is being placed on these components, naturally introducing excess friction. I imagine if the scope was mounted with two arms instead of one, there wouldn't be nearly as much experienced friction.
Having said that, I have found that the scope can traverse smoothly in the altitude axis without increase or loss of desired tension. If I rotate the tightening nut simultaneously with the OTA (alt. up + loosen left, alt. down + tighten right), the OTA and tightening nut move in unison, and it traverses fluidly. I think this is about as good as I'm going to get out of this scope.
I will continue to use it here and there, but I have noticed that the eyepieces (mainly the 6mm and 4mm from the accessory pack) tend to make stars look 'flare-y' for lack of a better term. Like they've grown bright wings. I'm chalking this up to either low quality eyepieces or perhaps bad collimation. Maybe both? I honestly have no idea.
