So I kept seeing pictures of movie Ironhide with his fenders flat as opposed to up at a 45 degree angle (see previous entries' pic).  So, I went to Seibertron.com and took a look at Ryan's Ironhide gallery to see if I could figure out what was up with my toy.

Turns out that I just didn't extend the joint connecting the fendder to the main body out by one notch on the connecting piece.  So, now Ironhide has flat shoulder pads.  The down side to this is that there are gaping holes in his torso now between the fenders and the middle chest piece (that still doesn't lock into anything that I can find).