Kenwood L07D antiskating

I am going nuts myself with re-mounting the tonearm on my own L07D. I took it out of its mount in order to re-wire it, which never got done either. Having given up on that, when I tried to re-install it, it now seems that the locking mechanism for the vertical shaft on the tonearm proper will not expand sufficiently to admit the vertical shaft loosely enough so it can then be cranked down to set VTA. The locking mechanism seems to be at max diameter, yet still the tonearm hangs up. I never had this problem with my other L07D. I am thinking of maybe greasing the shaft. I don't know what else to do at this point or why it was fitted fine when I bought this thing.

Lew, when I machined a brass arm base for Terminator to fit into the main position of the L-07D there was a narrow range of adjustment in the arm base collet. I wouldn't be afraid to twist the Kenwood arm down into the collet with a bit of prejudice.

Yep, that's what I finally did. But cranking it up and down to adjust VTA, with the collet "loose", is not at all like what it was with my previous L07D. Ironically, I bought this second one because it was sooooo new looking, quite minty. And sold my old one. It works OK, but I am not happy with the feel of it; it must be putting stress on the gears when I have to crank it down or up using the outer wheel, rather than the little crank wheel.