HP Laserjet MFP M476dw - can't insert paper tray 2

[Daria9000]

I've had this printer for years and have always had problems inserting Paper Tray 2 (it holds letter & legal-sized paper). It pulls out easily enough, but inserting it has never been easy. It almost always takes multiple tries (slide from the bottom, tilt before inserting, etc.) and seems to be related to the drop-down green thing above the bottom tray since sometimes it drops down and I have to push it back up before I'm able to insert the tray.

This time, however, nothing I've tried has worked. The tray gets stuck about 3/4 of the way in and sticks out about 2.5 inches. The printer shows no error messages & I am able to print but it is very irritating not to be able to insert the tray all the way.

I tried removing the tray and tilted the printer onto its back to see if I could figure out the relationship between that green thing-a-ma-bob and the printer tray but there's nothing obvious I can see.  I've been unable to find anything in the manuals or in videos to illustrate how things work physically inside the printer (i.e., the relationship between the paper tray and that green thing).

Here's a picture showing how the metal sides of the paper tray are stopped physically by the black sides of the printer.

I desperately want to know not only how to fix this right now but to understand why I have had this ongoing problem. Inserting a paper tray should be a no-brainer, not a nightmare.

Does anybody have a picture of the INSIDE of the printer showing how that green thing (which I think is the source of the problem) is supposed to be installed?

[Repairatrooper]

Not sure I have a 476 in the shop, will check tomorrow morning and post a pic if I do. Illustrations below are from the service and repair manuals.

 

[Daria9000]

Ah, so that green thingie is the jam access tray. At least I have a name for it.

Over the years, that tray frequently drops down when I try to insert tray 2. I'll push it back up and, if I'm lucky, after several trials, I'll somehow get tray 2 to slide all the way in. I don't know what's happened so that now I can't.

I assume the bottom and sides of tray 2 must have to align with something inside the printer and I'm guessing that somehow the jam access tray is now preventing that. 

There are no broken parts inside the printer or on the tray itself.

If there is any way you can show me how the green jam access tray is supposed to sit inside the printer and how the bottom/sides of tray 2 are supposed to slip into the printer, I'd be truly grateful.

(I've never been able to figure out what I've been doing when the tray doesn't go in vs. what I've been doing when it does and it's very frustrating that it's reached the point where I can't do it at all.)

[Repairatrooper]

Some models use a magnet to keep the tray in place, others have a friction lock. I am not sure about the 476 and I do not have one in my fleet right now that I can look at.

[Repairatrooper]

We have had cases where the metal brace on the bottom of the printer gets bent in the middle and drags on the bottom of the tray and pushes it upwards.