I agree with everyone concerning the twist frame. I’ve used washers under some of the bolt holes to level.
The knuckles still might be too tight.
There might be by pass in the actuator, and not giving the retraction cycle enough power to bring the gear up. Of course as you said, jet inverted the gear easily retract, because gravity is helping. If you have a stethoscope, cheap at auto parts stores, to listen to the actuator. Or just go ahead and lube the actuator with O’ring oil.