Well, I tried and tried and tried. Ain't no way in hell that the rod is going over that seam, with or without the coping strip. I did get the coping strip over it, but the rod simply will not go no matter what I do.

The seam is behind one of the vertical supports, and the sheet metal plate thingie easily spans the distance between the two rods, so is it alright to just leave it like that? It's about an inch and a half uncovered by the rod, but covered by a stressed coping strip.

Also, the rods seem to be lower than they were before. When I put them on tonight, they are too low to fit under the uprights. I actually have to raise them about 1/4" so that they rest on the tracks in the uprights. Is that normal?