DISTRIBUTOR TROUBLES (82-70'S)

[BILLY G]

I'M HAVING PROBLEMS WITH A COUPLE MACHINES
(82-70'S).
FIRST PROB. - AFTER FEEDING THE 3 PIN, THE DIST.
MOVES TO THE 2 PIN, BUT BOUNCES BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN THE 1 AND THE 2 A COUPLE TIMES BEFORE STOPPING ON THE 2. I'VE CLEANED THE CLUTCH.

SECOND PROB. - (ANOTHER MACHINE) EVERY SO OFTEN I'M GETTING PINS PILED UP AT THE 10 PIN POSITION. I'VE TRIED MORE CLUTCH TENSION.

PLEASE HELP! THANK YOU, BILLY G

[nonace]

Re: DISTRIBUTOR TROUBLES (82-70'S)

What you need to do for your first problem, is make sure the spot on the cam is lined up properly on the clutch. Don't just clean the clutch, service it. that means take the whole deal out out, inspect each part. naturally check the obvious.

The second problem is probally the clutch. when they have problems at the corners, it usually means a clutch problem. Check it all out, then you should be ok.

[nonace]

Re: DISTRIBUTOR TROUBLES (82-70'S)

Also with the distributor bounce from the 2 to the 3, check and make sure the dist pan is not hitting the pinwheel. The universal may be on the crapper also.

[8270 pinspotter]

Re: DISTRIBUTOR TROUBLES (82-70'S)

The first problem is most likely caused by too much clutch tension. Try using just one turn of the spring and see if it will still index the corner pins. I personally run 3/4 turn on all of mine, but that might not be enough of all machines. For the corner pin problem, it's probably cluth related as well. Take it apart, clean it up, lube the pinion, and put it all back together making sure the timing marks line up, and try one turn on the spring. If the problem was cluth related it should disapear.

[8270king]

Re: DISTRIBUTOR TROUBLES (82-70'S)

The 2 to 3 pin travel problem could be caused by a couple things:

1. The distributor mount on the pinwheel guard not being perpindicular to the ground. Bubble level check this. Loosen bolts and adj. if necessary. It will be necessary to readjust the centering of the dist. on the 1 pin.

2. If you have not installed slow down pulleys on the pinwheel....the 3 pin is too far down the belt when the dist. is travelling from the 2 pin. This is putting a weight at the end of a lever....and the weight of a pin causes too much lateral movement if the pin is too far up the belt. The smaller pulley spaces the pins out more and helps this and other distributor problems.

Jerry

[Lampie]

Re: DISTRIBUTOR TROUBLES (82-70'S)

Is putting some extra tension on the safety spring forbidden to cure the #2 pin problem?

Martin

[CommunityBowl]

Re: DISTRIBUTOR TROUBLES (82-70'S)

I maybe wrong since I am fairly new to this myself but on my machines it turned out to be too little spring tension on the Right spring at the base of the distributor. Take the spring loose and give it half a turn to tighten it up. Has worked every time for me.

Guys if this is not right let me know so I can go back and fix them a different way.

[img]/content/btubb/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/usflag.jpg[/img]

[TheGMan143]

Re: DISTRIBUTOR TROUBLES (82-70'S)

The 2/3 swing sounds like a little more tension on the lateral springs is needed... we usually just put a kicker spring over the regular ones by hooking it to one of the coils of the lateral spring, give it a little tension (not full stretch!), and hook it back to the spring post at the rear of the machine. A slightly bent driveshaft can cause the distributor to sway even more.

The 10 pin pileups are most likely clutch... it's slipping when driving from the 6 to the 10, and maybe dropping 2 or 3 into the 10 before it will grab enough to move.

Another cause is a misadjusted pin guide in the wheel (the 'kidney')... if it's too low or loose, it will let a pin drop on to the pan headfirst at the corners, since the one of the orientor pins on the distributor pan is so far away from the wheel, the pin can slip in front of it and feed headfirst, usually causing a jam.

It might also be that the distributor is adjusted too far left (or right). Check the centering of the distributor at the 1 bin, and adjust the safety link to center as needed. Run a couple racks through it, noting the position and drop-off of the pin at the 7 and 10 positions. The pin should fall neatly and squarely into the bin pocket... if it seems like it 'rolls-off' into the bin, or sometimes falls into the top part of the 4/6 bins, you will need to move the adjustment slightly towards the offending side.

Originally posted by nonace:
Don't just clean the clutch, service it. that means take the whole deal out, inspect each part.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Isn't that what cleaning the clutch is? This is the only way I ever knew...every 60 days or so: Remove entire clutch. Check all components for damage &amp; wear, replace if needed. Clean &amp; degrease pinion, thrust washer, sleeve, dist shaft, and stop tabs. Sand meeting faces of thrust washer and brass pinion sleeve until smooth. Clean inner plate, outer plate, and nylon disc with alcohol. LIGHTLY oil pinion sleeve and thrust washer. Apply SMALL amount of grease to stop tabs. Reassemble clutch on machine, apply 3/4 turn of tension on spring, test for operation.

[8270king]

Re: DISTRIBUTOR TROUBLES (82-70'S)

King's method of clutch adjustment......

1. Start at 5/8 turn.
2. Index dist.
3. If it makes it past the 10 with no hesitation, go to step 5.
4. If it does not index add tension.
5. After making dist. index past 10 pin spot...add 1/8 turn.
6. Take Sharpie and mark on dist. cam how much tension it takes....I also mark if I have extra washers behind pinion etc.
7. When servicing clutches...do not play musical clutches......I always return the same parts unless something is worn.

Thanks to all who read my opinions.

Jerry

[amfpinboy]

Re: DISTRIBUTOR TROUBLES (82-70'S)

BILLY G The dist. bounce, after feeding the #3 bin, May be caused by the dist. driveshaft bottoming out in the drive housing. Allow the dist. to stop on the #2 position and check for end play on the driveshaft. There should be at least 1/8" of end play. If it's bottomed out, you can pick up some room at the drive housing. It may need to be moved on the shaft or grind off some material to gain some room.
Without enough gap between the driveshaft and the housing, the dist. will dance at the #2 bin. You can also cross drill the universal roll pin hole on the driveshaft and shorten the shaft by 1/8. Just make the driveshaft a little shorter.

[Rep]

Re: DISTRIBUTOR TROUBLES (82-70'S)

Yea, we have a few machines we had to shorten the drive shafts on due to the 3 bin - 2 bin swing. All odd machines too if I remember correctly, anyway, it did stop most if not all of the swing on those particular machines.

Rep [img]/content/btubb/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif[/img]

[amfpinboy]

Re: DISTRIBUTOR TROUBLES (82-70'S)

Yeah, I should have mentioned that it only applies to R.H. machines.

[8270 pinspotter]

Re: DISTRIBUTOR TROUBLES (82-70'S)

I have never heard of shortening a drive shaft. It sounds to me like that might be a cover up to the real problem. Any time I've had a swinging distributor, it's either been due to too much clutch tension or a weak safety link spring. I guess you learn something new everyday.

[Rep]

Re: DISTRIBUTOR TROUBLES (82-70'S)

8270, well you may be right. But never the less it does work well on those odd problem lanes. We don't have too many we did it to maybe 4 machines or so and we're a 64 lane center and on those it helped the problem greatly.

Rep [img]/content/btubb/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif[/img]

[BILLY G]

Re: DISTRIBUTOR TROUBLES (82-70'S)

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions on my distributor problem. (Distributor bouncing) What seemed to help was shortening the distributor shaft about a 1/4 of an inch. I did notice it was hitting the back of the sleeve. Thanks again for your suggestions. BILLY G