How To Replace The Springs And Ball Shooter Rod On A Gottlieb Pinball Machine

Buying old pinball machines to use at home can be a lot of fun, but many of the machines will need to have maintenance work done to get them working as they did years ago when they were new. You'll usually find that some things like the springs and tips on the ball shooter rods have deteriorated and broken apart. You need to replace the springs and the ball shooter rod to fix this problem. This is something you should be able to do on your own. If your ball shooter springs and tips have gone bad on your Gottlieb pinball machine, here is how you can replace them.

Replacement Rod

The shooter rods are usually the same from one pinball machine to the next. You can buy one online or at a local dealer for pinball machines. Make sure you buy a shooter spring and a compressor spring that will fit the rod as well.

Remove Playing Field Glass Cover

The playing field glass cover sits over the top of the pin machine and covers all the moving parts. You need to remove the glass so you can lift up the playing field to get to the ball shooter. Open the front door of the machine (where the coins go into the machine) and look for the little lever at the top of the door opening. Pull the right side of the lever down to release the flat metal bar at the front of the top of the machine. Close the door.

You can now pull the metal bar off of the front of the machine. Grab the glass plates and slide it toward you. The plate will slide down the grooves on both sides of the machine until it comes completely out. Carefully set the glass aside in a safe spot.

Remove Ball Shooter

Lift up the playing field and set the lift bar in place inside the machine so the field doesn't fall back down. Remove the two bracket plate nuts on the inside of the machine that holds the ball shooter to the cover plate. Slide the bracket plate off of the shooter rod. You can now slide the shooter arm assembly out of the front of the machine.

Take Shooter Rod Assembly Apart

You need to remove the cover plate, the little plastic piece support piece, and the washer for the shooter spring.

Start by removing the spring clip at the end of the shooter rod. You can take this off with a pair of pliers. Slide the long shooter spring off of the rod. Now, slide the spring cap and the plastic piece off of the rod. You can now slide the cover plate off of the rod. Dispose of the rod and the compressor spring that goes between the knob on the shooter rod and the front cover plate..

Replace Shooter Rod

Place the small compressor spring onto the rod and put the cover plate and the plastic piece back on. Put the spring cap over the plastic piece and put on the shooter spring. Put the spring washer back on and put a new rubber tip on the end of the rod. Place the unit back into the opening at the front of the machine and put the bracket plate back on the rod inside the machine. Screw the nuts onto the threaded ends over the cover plate that go through holes in the bracket plate and tighten.

Set the playing field back down into position. Carefully slide the glass plate back over the top of the playing field. Set the metal bar back into position in the front of the machine and lock it in place with the lever inside the door.

Start playing the machine to make sure the ball shooter now works as it was originally intended to work.

For more info contact a company like Great Selections.

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