The fancy-shmancy pin with the C-clips arrived yesterday and I put everything back together today in about two hours. And the tilt now works and holds firm in "Huggy Bear," all the way up to "Frank Cannon" positions without ratcheting down. Amazing. All that work to replace the 25 cent pin with a $32 pin with clips.
I can't complain since West Coast Couger identified a problem, created a solution, and sell a part that fixes it exactly.
https://secure.cougarpartscatalog.co...tml?attribs=79
Here's the pin: (it's the thinner one of the two. The thicker own is for the locking lever itself.)