Today I screwed my AE-1 up. I took off the film counter dial...

And I can't figure out how it can go back on.

It was all in the fruitless attempt to discover why my shutter has a hairline trigger - in my other thread. I'm 20% sure I've got it figured out, and I'm on the road to re-assembling my camera, but I can't get the damn Film Counter dial back on.

I have a couple pieces - the dial, which is a plastic fascia on a plastic cog. Attached to the underside of this is the spring, which gives tension to the dial to let it reset to 0. The spring is attached on one end and has a hook on the other. I'm assuming this hooks onto something and I have a hunch what, but I'm not entirely sure. I also have a plastic washer which is starting to get a bit deformed. I guess this is what allows the spring to move independently of the cog, kind of like a bushel?

I think I have to hook it onto this tiny clip that's holding some of the circuitry in place, and wind it round a full 360 degrees so that it naturally wants to slip back to display 0 on the counter. I then want to screw it in, but when I get this far, the downward pressure of the screw prevents it from turning from the spring. If I leave the screw half inserted, it feels too loose like it may come out. And on my other AE-1 which I've stripped to compare them, the screw is in TIGHT, and the film counter works perfectly.

Please help me! I'm going to Budapest soon and I need this camera working for the trip :'(

Thank you.

I managed to get it back on, but it's not pretty.

It seems to work again, but the counter is off slightly. It's behind about half to one frame every time. When I count 36 exposures it says something like 34...

I still couldn't figure out how to get it on properly with the screw in tight so the screw is half tightened.. Yolo I guess. Any ideas on moving further with this? Thanks.

Buy another camera.

Google search Canon ae1 service manual second link in the results: Dead Link Removed
click on the download manual link under the page preview not the larger ad links.
or do the search and try some of the other links.

The AE1 shutter speed dial's sort of challenging.
The right way to do it is:
Set the ISO @ 100, shutter speed to 1000. This takes tension off the dial & prevents breaking the wire that goes from one side of the camera to the other.
Gently lift the dial partway & release the tension on it and lift it off. There's a black disc that connects to the wire.
The tension is from a coiled spring on the rewind side of the camera where a wiper contacts the ISO board.

To reassemble, fit the small rectangular protrusion on the bottom of the dial into the notch on the black disc and rotate it CCW.
It should just drop into place when everything's aligned.