Thanks.
I just figured this out.
The link wasn't working for the First Post (with a last post link) at the top of postlist because I had a sticky post with no "last post" info above it. once I either unstuck it... or did a reply to the sticky, then all seemed to work.
I guess it didn't like having a post in front of it without the last post data.
Either way... this hiccup would work itself out as the data is populated when people make replies.
Thanks for your help.
I will post tweaked instructions for use with .threads 6.1 shortly.