[kiwi_steve]

Just a couple of thoughts... first on the floating end of the shaft... is there a plate on the end?  I made a similar folly to you with my 89B tuning cap and spent hours getting it back together.  The end cap (on the far right) has a ball bearing under it and this is what tensions the entire shaft - at least on this model - it might be worth having a look at yours to see if whatever tensioner yours has is actually there - some later ones had a screw with a locknut to adjust the tension.

I know this because I forgot to tighten the two screws holding that plate down before aligning all the plates in all three gangs (spent ages doing this), and then I noticed it... tightened it up and suddenly realised all the plates were now solidly jammed against each other... so spent another ages doing it all again!... 

[Image: http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff222...ii2cmw.jpg]

On the tuning problem - have you tried checking resistance / continuity between the chassis and each of the gangs?  Make sure there isn't some kind of short - also do this for the trimmers (When I did this I took capacitance readings of all my trimmers and then when I reassembled it I reset them to what they were before I pulled it apart... too late for that now on yours - but if you have a capacitance meter that reads in pF then check your trimmers and tuning cap through their range as well.

You'll get there... you've got some of the best Philco people in the world helping out.  I hope this doesn't put you off pulling things apart though - thats the best bit!  

Cheers

Steve