Took the brace off, cleaned up the threads on both the screws and the brace itself, scrubbed everything clean. Cleaned the area at the top of the tubes where the brace fits and reinstalled it. After several experimental tries, I am getting stiction when I get up to 10 ft-lbs. So, put a drop of blue Loctite on the screws and installed them to 8 ft-lbs, seems OK. Thanks all for the advice.