Did you put the thrust washer back on correctly? It has little alignment pins on it that should insert into the support.
I would be sitting on the cookie cutter, it should just slide right in without any effort. But to answer your question, by the look of the picture it isn't installed correctly. Looks like you need to take the cookie cutter back out and check that thrust washer.
It looked like the hub wasn't in far enough.
There shouldn't be but Maybe 1/8" of hub sticking out past the clutch pack. The washer looks like you installed it correctly. Is the drive gear seated all the way??
Yes Vaseline works well as an assembly jel.
Just make sure the thrust washers are completely seated in the grooves they go into
If I'm not mistaken the white nylon washer is the one that goes under the cookie cutter. (I think). That would be the reason it wasn't sitting flush.
Install EVERY washer with Vaseline!!
The other two will probably need replacing as well. You might also want to take a look at the 3 steels, i was looking through your pics and saw an ear on one of them bent. It has to be straight. (The one below your arrow)
![]()