Ruger LCR smithing question

[Ferrarif1fan]

I recently bought my wife a LCR .22. It has a terribly stiff trigger pull, so I took a look inside to see if I could make any modifications to lighten and/or smooth things out. Using 2000 grit paper, I polished the contact points on the trigger and hammer where they rub together. Since the flat ends of the hammer spring nearly had two full turns to form the flats, I ground one turn off of each end, which was probably about .050 each end. Everything went together just fine. But the problem is that now the pawl that engages and rotates the cylinder is only working if the barrel is pointed down slightly. if the barrel is pointed up, the pawl wants to stay back inside the pistol instead of moving out to engage the teeth on the back of the cylinder. It's almost as if the pawl needs some spring tension to push it out, but there is no spring in the design to do it. Does anyone have any idea what is going on???

thanks!

Robert