can't remove iron damper lid--advice?

[kitand]

I'm trying to remove my damper lid to clean and inspect the chimney better. The damper lid pivots fine, but it's stuck insofar as removing it.
On the left side, the damper lid has a pin that fits into the bottom of a v-notch in the frame for the damper. Right side of the lid has another pin that has an "X" shape and there is a hole in the side of the frame that this X-pin slots into. The handle for the damper is attached onto that X-pin right next to the right-side wall of the fireplace. Pushing away on the handle opens the lid.
It seemed to me that it would be easy to just lift the v-notched side of the lid and angle the lid out of there. Repeatedly tried this, but couldn't get the left pin enough out of the bottom of the v-notch. Tried opening the damper to different angles and pushing up and to the left. Can't figure out the hangup. Advice?

 

[webby3650]

I've had several that simply were not removable. The mason built the smoke chamber in such a way that the damper plate will not come out. Sometimes you just can't do it. You'll just have to reach over it with a shop vac hose and suck up the debris after the flue is swept.