Sounds like the guy in Akron saw you coming from a mile away... bent tube on a used forge is like buying a car with a busted frame, it's never gonna run right. Good news is a burner tube is usually the cheapest part to swap out, so fixing it might cost you way less than that 180 stings. Pull the tube and check the flare and the mig tip, odds are one of them is chewed up or off center. New tube runs maybe 30 or 40 bucks and takes ten minutes to bolt on. Might as well try it before you write off the whole thing.

Reminds me of my buddy who swore by his cheap foam pad for years until he started camping every weekend and his hips gave out. Turned out the pad wasn't the problem, it was that he was sleeping on roots and rocks and never bothered to clear his spot. Spend ten minutes kicking the ground smooth and even a junky pad feels way better.