(Topic ID: 199555)

Freddy: known weak points and Claw question

By BulkOfTheSeries

6 years ago



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#1 6 years ago

OK. I'm looking for answers on Freddy. I have one available to me and I'm considering purchasing it.

1) the claw for the claw save is broken (as usual, so I understand). Only the bottom claw is intact. Will it sill work? How often do replacements come up? Neither PBR nor Marco has any and Steve said they don't forsee a run.

2) the machine has wear in front of the flippers, toward the end of the flipper. My assumption is that this is from the flippers being loose and dragging at some point.

3) What else do I need to look for on this game? Are there other common weak points? Noted issues?

note: I will be getting it for $1500 tops so the price is pretty good.

#2 6 years ago

The bottom claw is the only claw that really should have any contact with the ball. It's metal, not plastic like the others.
The Freddy I had, the previous owner replaced the broken plastic claws with popsicle sticks painted to match the metal claw. Looked great, but 1 or 2 of those ended up breaking as well.
Really no use trying to get a nice new replacement because the claws will break if they're made the same as the nos version. Not a good design.

#3 6 years ago

The wear on the playfield caused by the flippers probably means broken flipper bushings.
Only other things I can think to check, other than the regular stuff, are the boiler room and Freddy's head. Make sure they both work as they should.

#4 6 years ago

Many people put the wrong flipper rubbers on gottliebs of that era of grooved flipper boots - the wider rubber ring sticks out slightly more on the top edge thus the flipper pushes the ball down towards the playfield wood on the flip instead of cleanly straight out - and the playfield gets worn.

#5 6 years ago

I thought someone remade the claw with more durable plastic? I saw a thread on here about it

#6 6 years ago
Quoted from BulkOfTheSeries:

1) the claw for the claw save is broken (as usual, so I understand). Only the bottom claw is intact. Will it sill work? How often do replacements come up? Neither PBR nor Marco has any and Steve said they don't forsee a run.

TNT Amusements did a video on Freddy where they crafted a very nice and durable claw. It would be worth checking out. Just search "tnt freddy pinball" on youtube.

#7 6 years ago
Quoted from GLSP3022:

TNT Amusements did a video on Freddy where they crafted a very nice and durable claw. It would be worth checking out. Just search "tnt freddy pinball" on youtube.

And the video is about the glove flipper up on the ramp -- I'm the customer who got that Freddy -- but I think that here he's asking about the claw save behind the flippers.

#8 6 years ago

For $1500 that Freddy better be in excellent condition! It's an absolute snoozer of a pinball machine. The wear between the flippers comes from not using Gottlieb System 3 rubber rings for the flippers and using traditional rubbers instead...the flippers drag and scrape the playfield as there is no mylar there to protect it.

If you look at Gottlieb Flipper Rubbers vs Any other Pinball Flipper Rubbers you will notice the Gottlieb ones are thinner....you can buy them from Steve at Pinball Resource.

Other areas too are the shroud of souls which takes a beating too. And the optos throughout the playfield which can fail....I don't think there are replacement optos for Gottlieb machines. You can modify using a Williams Opto I think. Also the boiler room door takes a beating too.

Freddy was my first pinball machine. IMO you should save your money for a better pinball machine. I love the theme of Freddy but the pinball machine itself is not very enjoyable.

#9 6 years ago
Quoted from Chicoman:

For $1500 that Freddy better be in excellent condition! It's an absolute snoozer of a pinball machine. The wear between the flippers comes from not using Gottlieb System 3 rubber rings for the flippers and using traditional rubbers instead...the flippers drag and scrape the playfield as there is no mylar there to protect it.
If you look at Gottlieb Flipper Rubbers vs Any other Pinball Flipper Rubbers you will notice the Gottlieb ones are thinner....you can buy them from Steve at Pinball Resource.
Other areas too are the shroud of souls which takes a beating too. And the optos throughout the playfield which can fail....I don't think there are replacement optos for Gottlieb machines. You can modify using a Williams Opto I think. Also the boiler room door takes a beating too.
Freddy was my first pinball machine. IMO you should save your money for a better pinball machine. I love the theme of Freddy but the pinball machine itself is not very enjoyable.

Yeah, I have decided to pass on it. Something far more interesting has come up.

Thanks everyone for the responses, much appreciated.

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