I agree with Merv
It's not the kind of thing you want to have to do, but getting some extra torque on that nut might fix your problem. Crows foot is the ticket.

As far as the pump, it would be making noise if running it dry affected it.
I've run them dry before.

When i was a kid, i even poured some "gas dryer" isopropyl alcohol in an empty plymouth pump... made a hell of a noise, and was still good afterwards.
in my defense, the P/S bottles i was buying were shaped just like the "gas dryer" bottle i found in the trunk... except it was yellow and they were white

I did just replace the pump on my bird. It made noise all the time... more so while hot.