Just had the same problem with mine. Turns out there's two metal spacers that slide onto the mounting bolts between the lopper and the bar. I had dropped one, so when I went back to assemble it, it went on crooked and into the covers. It's not shown in the diagram above, but I found it listed (but not sold, go figure) at link removed, Part Number 490779-00. It says that it's for the LP1000-B2 Type 1 and LP1000-BR Type 1, but I have no idea how they're different, so I'd just as well assume they're the same. Hope that helps.