Hi Jeff,
Thanks for another help offer! I zip tied the wiring all neatly, loosened and lubed the little plastic rollers, bent the gearbox a little, and now it rotates pretty well. We'll probably come back to it. Its just the Pershing body is sooo crowded!
Now the elevation is another story. Not really sure what exactly is going on there but it worked well without the spring but with the spring (which causes the barrel to move up naturally. But the clutch slips when the spring is installed and I try to depress the barrel. So I experienced a cartoon-like too long, too short scenario when I tried to stretch the spring to make it less powerful. I didn't know the spring stretched so easily! So my spring is a lot shorter, slightly too loose, and thus the barrel wobbles by hand...but at least the barrel depreses now!