(1) The bricking issue: I agree with what Vid said. Wax the lands on the target and wax the metal strap the target rests on and they will "drop like stones". Could the tighter springs you are using be part of the reason they are bricking? How do the targets act when you push them with your finger? Do they drop or seem to hang up? I don't have any of this bricking issue with any of my Sterns so I am just guessing. I don't think using a tighter rubber behind the drops would help with your issue because, IMO, the target land would be pushed clear of the strap and drop when the ball pushes the target backwards.

(2) on targets falling down, I have this issue with one of the drop targets on Seawitch not staying up some of the time. I have not messed with it yet but my thought is that the land on the target has possibly worn a little bit.

With your targets in the up position look at the opening in the play field and make sure the targets are not contacting the play field which could keep them from resetting properly. If the drop assembly is located too far forward, the targets could be riding against the opening which could affect the resetting. If they are contacting the opening in the play field you will need to relocate the drop assembly a little farther back. I would not be surprised if this is part of your problem. I'm not saying you will find drop assembly mis-located but as I continue to learn more about my Sterns, I see that parts location accuracy was not one of Stern's strong points, so don't rule this out.

I'm not sure what you are saying when you say you are using tighter springs. Do you mean you have installed new springs? Stern's Wild Fyre used longer springs but by the time Big Game came around Stern was using a shorter spring and a different way to mount the shorter springs. Steve at PBR sells both long and short springs. If you installed a spring shorter than what he sells then I could see that as part of your bricking issue.

Your guess is correct. That type of drop assembly is what you will see on Wild Fyre and I don't know what others. The differences are the way the longer springs attach to a hollow rod that is installed, the switches are located on the bottom instead of the back, and the target landing strap is a much larger piece on metal.

I am going to go out on a limb and say the Big Game type of assembly hit the scene with the MPU-200 pins of which Ali would be the first.

I believe Steve at PBR will know what you want for F2K.

EDIT: The differences are the way the (shorter) longer springs attach to a hollow rod that is installed... "longer" should read "shorter".

Yes. Price is rather steep but not out of line with everything else---as the government continues to insist inflation is not happening. Sometimes you can find used ones.

http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/STERN81PC

Yeah, that early Stern setup uses the longer springs. The later pins used the bar/tube and the shorter spring. Steve at PBR has both longs and shorts.

Thanks for coming back with the resolution.

I'm not seeing the utility of this lead weight "solution". Either you need new springs, or you have the incorrect springs or your switches are not adjusted properly.

No way do you need to add weight. The Stern drop targets work well per engineering design.

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What ever works, I guess. Unless someone has taken a hammer to the switches they should be OK. They are not a high wear item.

I know you know what the Stern drop target assembly looks like but I'm going to put pics, anyway.

This is out of my Big Game. It has new short springs form Steve at PBR. When I push a target it drops. When I manually activate the plunger it pushes the targets up a little bit farther (about 1/8" / 3.175mm ) beyond the locking blade and as I let go of the plunger it drops down quickly and the targets drop down 1/8" and lock onto the blade.

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The only thing I can suggest if for you to get your DT assembly on your work bench and play with it until you get it working. If it works on the bench and goes bonkers when you install it then something must be wrong with the way it is mounted to the play field. I'm sorry for the simple answer; I don't know what else you can do.

I do think if you apply wax to the landing areas on the targets and on the lock blade that it might help with your bricking problem.
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On my Seawitch I am having problems with the targets in one 3-bank assembly dropping after the plunger drops. I have not looked at it yet but I"m thinking the landing areas on the targets are worn a little. But Redketchup brings up a good point with the plunger being incorrect length so I will look at that.

That's great. Thanks for posting solution.

Your builder might not have installed the drop target assembly in a good position. From your video, it looks like the targets might be rubbing up against the play field and dragging.

I just finished with installing both of my drop assemblies yesterday. The dimples that Mirco placed on the play field cannot be trusted. If your builder used the locating dimples, that could possibly be causing your problem.

Put up a couple of pics like these two. One with targets up and one with them down.

Is there any gap between the target faces and the edge of the play field hole?

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That is an early style drop target assembly. Designed for use with the tombstone style drop targets. I would have used the later model shorter return springs and made another mod to that drop assembly, but either mod would probably not resolve your problem.

I hate to say this but I have to say it: This is some ugly wiring with wires floating around in all different directions. I would suggest doing some tie wrap work so those wires don't start rubbing against the springs.

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The drop targets look OK.

The only thing I can think of is to lift the play field high enough that you can get your hand to the drop target assembly, push the targets and let them fall.

Then manipulate the lift bar and raise them back up and feel for any linkage binding.

The lift bar should raise the targets up smoothly with no drag or binding.

It might be the plunger is binding on the coil sleeve. But I don’t know. I’m guessing. But it should be smooth and free action to raise the targets back up.

I have been lucky with drop targets acting as they should be acting. However, one drop assembly on this Star Gazer I am building is acting up. Here is what it is going on: Two drop assemblies work perfectly. #3 has two actions happening; During reset after a ball drain, the life action seems to lift the drops too high and 1 or 2 targets always fall down and this can be any combo of the 3 targets. However, during gameplay, when the targets are dropped and then reset, all 3 targets locate perfectly.

When doing my build, I located all 3 drop assemblies in the same manner, however, the assembly that is acting up was "pushed" forward in its location by 2 #47 bulb sockets and at first none of the 3 targets would stay standing. I took a course tooth wood rasp I got from Harbor Freight and have "filed" away some of the wood on the play field from in front of the targets. This helped some but the problem still exists, so I am going file/rasp off a little more wood from in front the the targets ( it is not as bad as it sounds. Several strokes with the rasp does not remove much wood at all.

My first choice would be to fill the holes in the play field and re-locate the reluctant drop assembly farther back by about .020" but the two #47 sockets preclude me from doing that. So, I am reduced to using the rasp.

What do you mean with the "bottom of the drop targets"? Stern used two different length of return springs. The long spring was used on the earlier Sterns and the shorter springs with the cross tube were used on the later classic Sterns.

Here is the early style.

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And the later style shorter spring.

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Which way did you go?

Thanks. I have some of the longer early style springs. I will try those as well as trying to stretch out the short springs as you describe.

Chuckwurt stretched the short springs to the long spring hookup. The targets stay up but they brick.

I might try clipping a couple of coils off of a short spring and see what that does. Springs are cheap and I bought some extras.

Maybe you could toss a couple of washers on top of the coil stop to make it seem like you installed a longer coil stop. And then see if that helps. If it helps then you go buy longer plungers.

I don't know. Drop target plungers are larger than the other plungers.

Since the coil stop is positioned on the bottom in a "facing up" position, I think you could just add one or 2 small washers and they should stay put. You could always secure them to the coil stop button with some super glue as an experiment. When you are done, just dip the stop into some fingernail polish remover ( acetone ) to dissolve the super glue.

I just tried the washer method. Don't waste your time.

Yes. I told you wrong.

"Someone" is closely related to " I don't know why "they" don't fix things". Who is someone" And who are they?

Someone may do that, but you won't like the price.

Stern is already doing it with the drops on the The Beatles pin. If you need a 3-place or 4-place drop assembly, one of these assemblies can be retrofitted easy enough. Just change the coil. And then try to figure out how you will get white drop targets since Beatles drops are black.

But I am reasonably certain that you won't like the price, but 3s and 4s can be had from Stern. With black targets.

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