Take down lever question

[Piker]

Hi, new to the forum and I have a question about reassembly.
First a little history of my pistole '08
I recently inherited my dad's 1938 S/42 which he purchased 30 some odd years ago from a Vet's widow & according to the story was captured along with a Nickel Plated FN HighPower with waffenfarbs etc. really a couple of nice pistols.
Anyway, dad shot maybe a box of ammo through the two pistols at most and had never tore them down for a good cleaning, just the barrel brush and a good wipe down...
So I got his collection and decided to take the '08 down to field strip clean it (After watching a youtube video it looked pretty easy) and I encountered this little problem upon reassembly...
My takedown lever doesn't want to go all the way through so that I can lock the trigger plate back in position....
Even without the plate the bolt doesn't want to go all the way through...
Am I doing something wrong? is the takedown spring under the takedown lever not working?
Help!

Thanks in advance
Mike Douglass