Originally Posted by
oldsewnsew
I've had this experience myself, and usually cured it with luck rather than knowledge. Sometimes I had the washer on backwards, especially at first. Sometimes, I swear it has helped to rotate the washer 180 degrees. sometimes I oil the heck out of the washer and handwheel, and it works. Maybe someone else has an idea... and yes you can hold the takeup lever if all else fails.
I invariably put the washer on 180 degrees off, and have to undo everything and rotate it. If the knob doesn't turn very much when you loosen it, the washer likely needs to be rotated 180 degrees, or the knob won't unscrew far enough to free the hand wheel.