Yes, initially you are looking/listening for trouble with engagement. Right? Isn't that what the trouble is/was? So seems prudent to start out easy.
Another suggestion is: safely operate the lever from under the hood to observe any throw issues with the mechanism that would prevent engagement. You have mentioned many times about switch on/switch off causing engagement problems or something like that. So be careful of the dreaded "two or three things wrong at once syndrome".

Right is right, even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it. - William Penn