I bought a used Defiant Encore 2550 and soon learned that the entire fireback, refractory assembly, etc needed to be replaced from overfiring. I got the official "fireback kit" and installed it over the weekend. The issue I've run into is that the shaft for the damper doesn't extend out of the stove far enough for me to properly attach the damper handle with the set screw. I'm assuming I have the upper fireback seated properly otherwise because it's bolted in from the back. I've tried to shove the end of the rod on the right side to the left to get a little more wiggle room but that didn't do much. Any ideas as to what could be wrong here? Is there a common mistake that people make when installing the upper fireback? I thought I had the washer and spacer in the proper order, is it possible that they're swapped and that's causing the problem? I've attached a pic of the shaft coming out of the stove. Thanks in advance for suggestions.
![[Hearth.com] Encore 2550 Damper Shaft](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/304/304000-69de7bf46705299bd95daf3c748b7078.jpg?hash=k7vNEHPWT9 "[Hearth.com] Encore 2550 Damper Shaft")
