Just joined the club a couple of days ago! Needs a good cleaning and new rubbers, but overall good condition.

I do have a question as it has been years since I played an Earthshaker - In between the bottom flippers it looks like there was a post that had been there, but was removed. (See picture) The gap between the flippers is fairly large. Is there supposed to be a post there?

ES Pinball (resized).jpeg

post (resized).jpeg

I'm new to the club and foolishly thought I could take off the upper back left (skillshot) ramp without removing the playfield. I wanted to clean back there and swap out GI bulbs while awaiting a new rubber kit for the game. I quickly realized that it doesn't seem possible to do a shop out of the back of the playfield without actually pulling the playfield. Anyone out there ever do it without removing the playfield?

Also curious if anyone has any advise on what to use to place the playfield on after it is removed? I do not have a playfield "rotisserie" or much space for one, so looking for ideas.

Looking for some help on my Earthshaker. The top left scoop gets rejected 90% + of all accurate shots to it (accurate as in that shot hit directly in the center of the scoop). It literally hits the metal back part of the scoop and ricochets right back out in the opposite direction. I can feel/see a little bit of a raise in the metal protector at the start of the scoop, but not much. I'm thinking that maybe that is making the ball "jump" just a little and hit off of the back of the scoop a little high or something. That part of the scoop looks like a PITA to replace, so I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas to try first? Anyone else had this problem on a scoop before?

Thanks for any suggestions, links and or help!

Mine also does this on occasion. I was thinking of trying a new foam piece at the end of the wire form, where the balls hits before going on the California/Nevada diverter. I'll let you know if this helps. If you run into anything that works, please let me know. I have the sinking institute mod and before I got the game someone glued a plastic piece on the top/back of it so any balls that are not correctly diverted cannot get stuck behind the institute, this was obviously an issue before i got the game and this was their solution. It looks like crap though, so I'm going to find another way to fix the issue.

Easy hack (until the new part arrives), put a small zip-tie around the entire switch toward the top of it (but still under the playfield). Pull it extra tight and it should stop it from splaying off to the side. I only know this because my newly acquired Earthshaker had a zip tie around that switch, which I though was weird, so I removed it. Within a day or two the target had moved over, just like yours. I immediately replaced the zip tie and haven't had any issues with it since then. I've been planning on replacing it when I get around to doing a shop out on it. Happy to take a picture of mine with the zip tie if it's helpful.

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Finally got around to a full shop out of the Earthshaker I acquired a few months back. I don't think it had been done in at least a decade or so as some of the rubbers basically disintegrated when I went to remove them.

I didn't remove the playfield to do it and my machine didn't have rails to place the playfield on and slide forward. It was a major PITA to get the ramps, plastics and wireforms off of the back of the playfield without removing it. Really happy I won't have to do that again for a long time!

ES Pin (resized).jpeg

Would love to do this and I've heard of this before, but what exactly do I rest the bracket slots on? If I do that there isn't anything to set them on and pull the playfield forward. Wouldn't the playfield just crash into the bottom of the cab? What am I missing here?

PF Bracket and bolt (resized).jpeg

Yeah, I understand the concept completely. My question is - after lifting the playfield off of the bolts do you just rest the playfield wood itself back directly on the cabinet bolts and slide it forward with the PF wood resting on just the bolts, nothing else?

Got it. Appreciate the help. I'll try this moving forward - it has to be way easier than what I had to deal with

You got this. Here's what I've learned in doing a few shop outs myself:

1. Take a lot of pictures from all angles before starting the process. (including many close ups so you can tell where/what screws are located)

2. As you start to remove ramps, wire-forms and plastics, keep everything organized. I use zip lock bags to store the screws and nuts (hardware) for each item I'm removing and label each bag with a sharpie. (IE - "left skill-shot/spin-out ramp"). This makes it really easy to be sure you're using the same hardware for each piece when reassembling.

3. Remember the order in which you had to remove the various ramps and plastics. Reverse that order when reassembling.

4. If you're not sure about something or run into any questions, just post here on pinside and someone will help.

Most playfield parts that need to be removed for a shop out only have a few screws and/or bolts/nuts used to attach them, so it's pretty easy to not screw something up.