Several remedies.
1. Use a weaker coil.
2. Reduce the stroke of the current coil by stuffing something into the coil sleeve next to the coil stop. This has the effect of making the coil stop longer.
3. Add a (say) 3 ohm or so resistor in series with the coil. This has a similar effect to using a weaker coil with more windings and hence more resistance. Resistor should be 1 watt.
4. Bend the actuating “finger” a bit so that it doesn’t strike the ball dead on.
5. Place a stronger spring on the mechanism to oppose the coil strength more.

Decide which is easiest for you or which solution you like more. I’m sure there are other ideas.

—
Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
Http://chrishiblerpinball.com/contact
http://www.PinWiki.com/ - The new place for pinball repair info

Check that the tip of the eject arm is not peened from years of use also. That will cause the kicker to throw the ball upward more than forward. Same thing happens with the outhole kickers too (ball thrown up too much and it hits the underside of the cardholder.)

Mine has hit the glass like that since I got it (10+ years ago). I have just learned to live with it and now it is just part of the machine.

(And yeah--I need to fix it...)

I owned one JITB and fixed another one up for a local person, neither hit the glass. No way would I put up with that crap. I suppose it's possible a previous person swapped the game's worn out outhole kicker with the left hole kicker just to get the game playable again. Just kinda weird that the right hole works fine, since they'd get the same amount of use.

Also regarding that spring-loaded lever in the kicker unit - make sure it is free to move and the pivots there are oiled. If it is seized, the kick will be much too strong.