Folks,
Thanks for everyone's help -- I got the linkage a bit closer to where it
should be.  First still felt a little weird on this evening's shakedown run,
but the other throws feel much better.  I'm going to head out on ye olde
summer road trip to the Jersey shore and see how the bus does.

Keeping two 13mm wrenches close at hand,
d.

PS:
Stan, you should cruise your neighborhood on "large item pickup" day and see
if you can score a dishwasher of your very own.