Hey guys,
thanks for the suggestions...went out yesterday and got the problem solved...quick too..
In case anyone else with a Woodmaster ever has this problem...here is the steps I took to solve.
1. Rod has a hole through the end...Woodmaster baffle is a thin plate with a piece of square stock mounted on the top with a hole drilled through it...rod gets pinned to hole...easy enough.
2. Burned most of wood in furnace through...shoveled ashes out, the put coals aside in wheel barrow.
3. Put a few pieces of wood in the box to build up some height, lay a piece of plywood down on the wood...now I have a nice surface to lay on.
4. Looking down from the stack (now that it has cooled a little), line rod up through square stock
5. Slide damper plate back about 3 inches...do this by hand...In furnace, put nail or bolt through the end of the rod, now I can pull the damper piece back towards the furnace entryway.
6. Once the damper makes it to the front of the furnace, it can be removed, cleaned up, and re-inserted.
7. Feed rod in until it meets the damper piece...damper piece will tilt down just enough to align the rod's hole and the hole in the square stock...insert your bolt,,,and push the rod back into place.
Done.
I could not find a decent picture or description of this process...so if anyone else has this happen...i hope it helps.
When I built the fire back up, I had only lost about 15 degrees and that was with the house calling for heat...not too shabby.