I bought the heavy duty Murrays hinge years ago and found it difficult to use with even moderate (aft) mast rake. I have a newer boat/sails now and run hard (aft) rake for heavy air. Rigged this way, even the old Hobie hinges didn't work well for me....I'd have to rake back after steppping the mast and rake forward before lowering it. And yes, we were pushing/pulling the mast as far forward as possible. I had several old hinges, so I ground off the forward top corners (where yours is hitting the bottom of the mast base) for a test. It works great, and I'm still using it. The Phillips head screwdriver (size No. 2, I think) trick mentioned above makes things much easier, too.