(Topic ID: 133169)

Flipper Rebuild Kits - are they all the same?

By zaphod

8 years ago


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    #4 8 years ago

    NO they are not all the same. PBR's are the ONLY ones worth buying.

    I don't care if I'm doing an order elsewhere, I will still only order any flipper rebuilds solely from PBR. Much better quality.

    #6 8 years ago

    The PBL pawls are complete garbage. They bend and break, and forget about having to loosen them to readjust.

    Search Pinside on rebuilds, PBR is the only place to go, but hey, it's your machine.

    #9 8 years ago
    Quoted from Toasterdog:

    Weird. I've probably rebuilt flippers on every pin I've owned and never had an issue with pinballlife's kits.

    When I first got into pinball, I bought all my parts from PBL, as the bulk savings seemed great. I rebuilt hundreds of flippers, but had problems, as I mentioned with the pawls bending too easily, and plungers and stoppers wearing really fast. I just thought this is how they were made. I mean, you can use the PBL ones, but you have to be careful to not overtighten.

    I ordered some from PBR for the first time once, and was surprised to see that all the little screws and washers, and everything else was included, and sets where cheaper. When tightening them, the pawls didn’t crumble when it got tight (I have had PBL ones do this before the shaft was even tight enough to not move in play). I got a HUO Popeye, and went to rebuilding the flippers, right away, as I always do. What I found was that the original Williams pawls were as strong as the PBR ones, and the plunger and stops looked new as well. I could take it apart, change the sleeves and bushings (another part NOT included in PBL rebuilds, but very important in the rebuild process), and the pawls were completely reusable, unlike the PBL parts.

    After using PBR rebuilds, years after I have new to no visible wear on the plungers and stoppers, but on machines that still had the PBL parts, I have had to rebuild again.

    This has been a consensus with many of us, and again, search pinside for threads. There is no comparison, and Steve Young will tell you how much pride he puts into making his parts and making them exactly to the standard the original ones were.

    I always state that this isn’t a shot at PBL as a whole, and I order from them for other things, but not flipper rebuild parts at all. Even their sleeves seem to be slightly larger, and do not slide nicely into b/w flipper coils.

    Again, you can use the PBL ones, but given the superior quality of the PBR ones, I don't know why you would. Flippers are the single most important aspect of play, and at PBR they are like $30 to rebuild two. No brainer for me.

    #11 8 years ago
    Quoted from KenH:

    I've had problems with the coil stops in the PBR Bally regular (non-linear) kits--they don't hold the flipper up when ball hits (you get that double bounce when the ball hits the flipper). I replaced them with non-kit ones from another vendor and it solved the problem. I don't know if they are still selling the bad ones in the kits -- this was a few years ago.
    I kept the bad 'kit' ones for other coils. They work fine for non-flipper coils.

    How can that be a problem of the stops? The stop stops the plunger, that's it. It has nothing to do with holding the flipper up. If they are forced down, that sounds like a coil issue or voltage problem.

    #20 8 years ago
    Quoted from KenH:

    Magnetism follows the inverse square law. Basically, when there is a small decrease in surface area or increased distance between the two "magnets" (for example, a bad seat between the stop and plunger), there is a great reduction in magnetic field strength.

    They are not magnetic together or against each other in any way though...

    I'm still not following this. The coil's voltage making a electromagnet reacting with the plunger holds it in. I can't fathom how the stop could change the force of the plunger being sucked into the coil. I could see this resulting in a poor connection that causes wear, but affecting the hold...?

    #29 8 years ago
    Quoted from annex:

    A little off subject but I also prefer Steve's ring kits over Marco. You don't get a roadmap but the rings are of high quality and always pretty accurate.

    Same thing, all my rubbers come from Steve as well. I spent tons trying to find the proper red rubbers and white that acted like nos, and that's pbr. The red flipper rubbers from pbl wear at the tips in weeks.

    It's simple IMO, if it has to do with a flipper part, anything, go to pbr. Pretty much any mech anything I check with him first. I blindly trust Steve with anything I need that he carries.

    #31 8 years ago
    Quoted from Ballypinball:

    I get mine from the guy who made them for Williams originally
    I know many others are made in china, and have had mixed results

    So who is that?

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