I recently noticed that the u-shaped metal piece that is part of the pulley system to raise the mast is leaning to port and that it take a lot more effort to raise the mast. Any suggestions?
That is a potentially dangerous issue. It may pull the mast off to one side. Check your mast hinge to make sure all the screws are in place and haven't fallen out. I had that happen and it allowed the hinge to twist/rotate and will allow the gin pole to skew to one side or the other. I changed all the screws to longer screws with nylock type nuts. There isn't enough finger room inside the mast so I used putty to hold the nut in a box end wrench.
If none of that works talk to the factory.