Maybe the Player unit is physically binding against something when you put it into the up position. I had a Gottlieb game that shorted against the lamp sockets once. Every time you would close it up, the fuse would blow. The unit seemed like it was pulling up tighter than usual. I put a spacer in to give a little slop to it and it's worked fine ever since.
Put a washer or two in between so it doesn't go up quite so tight and see if that helps.