Installing sun visors on rods

[tattooboy37]

I've got a 63 c20 and ordered new sun visors to install. the originals were quite a pain in the ass to get off and now the new ones wont slide on the rods all the way. they go on half way but no further. also they only will go on by spinning in one direction and wont spin back the other way either.
I cleaned and sanded the rods but haven't tried any type of lube yet. the originals were really hard to lower as well. my concern is if I do get them on all the way that when installed they wont spin anyway. should I just keep sanding them down to make them skinnier or is there a trick i'm missing.