Good for you for getting back into it right away. I also have worked many late nights on stuff like this and can relate somewhat.

Yes definitely figure out how to degree it before putting it back together.

I bet it is not easy to do in the truck which I have never done before, so good luck with it.

FWIW years ago I rebuilt/ installed cams at least 5-6 times without degreeing the cam with no problems.

But in the last 20 I have degreed everyone since then.

Quick story, when I was running alcohol dragster I was stuck at 259 mph, Tom Conway who was helping tune the car always questioned if I had the cam degreed in right. So one year I took my engine stand to the US nationals and took the motor out of the dragster and put it on the stand to have Tom check my cam timing. We were changing the motors anyway so it was a good time to check and Tom would be there for the long weekend.

The cam timing was just where he said it should be. Still the car did not MPH like it should.

A month later I moved the cam myself different from where he said it should be and the car went 265MPH and did a big wheel stand on the first run.
So you never know until you know to begin with where the cam is in at then you can make changes to experiment.

Good luck with yours.