So i have a few issues that might be related and might not be. I bought a new shooter rod for my JPLE and things have changed a bit.

Originally, with the old shooter rod, quite often when i plunged the ball it wouldn't make it around the vertical loop to the helicopter lane return. The shooter action felt wrong, like there was something grinding or scratching when you pull it. I didn't notice that the playflield wasn't square but might have just missed as i didn't have a heap of reasons to lift it.

I installed the new shooter rod and afterwards noticed that the playfield doesn't sit back into the cabinet properly. you have to sort of slide it sideways to get it back into the slots. I also notice that the new shooter was hitting the autoplunger mechanism. So when you go to plunge it hits the autoplunge first instead of the ball. I managed to adjust the autoplunge so that the shooter rod doesn't hit it. However, now when i plunge the ball (wth the new shooter) it almost never makes it around the loop to the helicopter lane. My guess is that if i can get the playfield square with the cabinet then this will solve all the problems? but i'm not sure how to do this. I tried loosening and tightening the screws on the shooter assembly and some of the others on the metal plate (on the inside of the front of the cabinet) that the playfield sits in. No luck as yet - the playfield still comes down on a different angle to the slots on the metal plate.

Any ideas on what might be the problem / what i can try next?

thanks!
(i've attached a couple of pics in case useful)

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