Trim Pump

Ok, I got it to go up and down last night. ;)

Where the arm goes in and out of the thicker part of the ram, there were what looked like some washers or C clips. One of them was stuck on the arm and would not let the arm compress into the thicker part of the ram, thus the outdrive could not lower.

I loosened it up with a screwdriver and it goes up and down perfectly.

Now I am worried about these clips/washers. The one that was stuck has now just been pushed to the end of the arm and is stuck down there. There are two others that are stuck down there too. They move freely, but can't get by the stuck one. What are these for? Can I replace them?