Some games were made with such a tight clearance at the front that you may be forced to slightly drill out the holes in the Time Expander bracket that fixes it to the playfield.

Before you do that though, loosen the 4 screws That attach it to the PF, and hold (don’t shove) the Time Expander back as far as possible. Hard- (use the metal posts for leverage)

Then screw in 2 of the screws and test the fit. You only need 1/16” or so.

Barring that, get out your Dremel and slightly elongate the rear screw holes in that bracket

As far as the rocking side to side - have you cleaned the mechanism? That 25 year old grease hardens up really bad. Remove all of it and reapply silicone grease (available at Pinrestore) gently to the bracket at the rollers

If you really want to go all out, you can remove the mini playfield entirely from the game and attach a 9v battery directly to the motor. This should be enough power to test the mech, it will go up and down easily if everything is just. you can then see if it’s binding on a certain part, of something is out of alignment, catching, etc.

If it goes up and down fine, you probably have an issue with the fit in the playfield, and elongating the bracket holes should be sufficient.

I'm not sure if it's binding / rubbing the front of the mini playfield or just really close. Can you confirm? The fact it continues travel it seems to me that it's not binding (hard). Might just be brushing. If it was binding hard, I would expect your gear box to be rice crispies.

Agree with shifting back first. Slotting the bracket will definitely be a solution and it's simple.

As for the rocking... I would not sweat it. That's definitely not bad at all; I've seen much worse. If it's really bothersome for you I can recommend a loosening and tightening the spreader on the bracket but you need to push the bracket apart to the point of being perfectly square. Too loose, more wobble. Too tight, it will bind. Some UHMW plastic strips has been used before to take up space if the brackets are warped too badly.

Now for what's happening with the leveling of the MPF. While the binding is still in question, I believe your concern is the random stopping. I think it's because when I look at your game I'm thrown into seizures. Those LEDs are amazing looking however super bright. Even though opto's are meant to be IR sender/receivers they DO INDEED react to regular light. Since the cam is devised to block/allow light past, I have $1 on the table that the light noise of the LEDs is shutting down the travel of the MPF. It would be the LED emitter/receiver at the very base of the MPF. Perhaps try to tape some paper to the fixed part of the bracket to shroud the light noise. If that works you can create something a little more elegant.

faz