Gooseneck slot in mast too tight?

My Hobie 14 gooseneck is a pain to insert after hoisting sail. I just got the plastic gooseneck bearing kit hoping this would help but is actually is a bit worse as it in very hard to start the gooseneck slide into the mast slot. I wonder if the mast slot is just a tiny bit too tight. Or should I file/sand off some material on the side of the bearings?

If you file the bearing, then it won’t be effective. The idea is that the plastic bearing should be slightly larger than the metal gooseneck slider so that there is no metal-to-metal contact.

Is it only difficult to get the slider started in the opening of the track, or is the slider tight throughout full travel of the downhaul?

sm