I would try lowering them slowly by hand to help determine at what point they are 'sticking', could be just need a smidge of light lube where the levers slide down across the scoring switch blades, and adjust the blades if they are misadjusted where they put too much pressure on the lever and hang up the target. Do you mean entire bank(s) of targets fail to reset? Or attempt to reset but fail? Or just certain individual targets? Also manually test resetting the whole bank involved, the reset coil can be adjusted up and down with the mounting bolts if it is not traveling far enough to fully reset all of the targets. Also lightly oil all the metal to metal moving part contact points in the unit.

This might be helpful: http://www.pinrepair.com/em/index3.htm#drops

One thing you can do to find out why your targets are not fully resetting is to hand-reset them. Drop all the targets, lift the playfield, and use your hand to manually reset them. To do this accurately, press the plunger down with your finger until it hits the coil stop. Do not try to rotate the reset arm. You want to simulate the solenoid plunger being pulled by the coil.

If all your targets reset, then the problem is likely on the high-current switch on the score motor that resets the targets. It can become dirty, pitted, or misadjusted to the point where it doesn’t send enough juice to pull the plunger in far enough to reset all the targets.

If you are unable to reset the targets by hand, then the cause of the problem is somewhere on the drop target bank. Some of the “trigger levers” that lift individual drop targets might be worn on the bottom from the reset bar smashing against them. This worn area lessens the triggers ability to lift the target high enough to clear the playfield.

Since you've already replaced some of the springs to not much effect, your drops sticking on the way down sounds like it's due to too much friction somewhere - often the rounded point of the metal arms that go through the plastic body of the drops and slide along the switch blades to activate them are being pressed too tightly by the metal switches, usually because the metal blade of the switch is bent too much toward the metal arm and pressing against it too tightly. Those switch blades should be clean too - there's often some sticky stuff on the metal switch blade that the end of the arm is trying to slide against. I know High Hand has a bunch of drop target banks, but maybe you can get in there with Q-tips and alcohol and try to clean the black gunk that seems to accumulate on the metal switch blades. Then check to see how tightly they are pressing against the metal drop target arms and bend them away gently (from the bottom) if they're pushing too hard against the arms. If you do that, make sure they still open and close as they should afterwards.

As for the drops not resetting consistently when the solenoid fires, again, make sure there isn't extra friction in the reset solenoid mechanism, and that the sleeve and slug are in good shape (the slug is clean with no mushrooming on the end, and sleeves are cheap - replace them if you're not sure). If that all looks good, Gottlieb gave you a simple way to move the solenoid slightly one direction or another - usually 4 screws that hold the solenoid bracket in place are in slotted holes. Over time, the bar that presses onto the underside of those same metal arms I mentioned earlier (and lifts all the drops together), can cut a nice little divot into those arms, as leckmeck mentioned, so in effect, you don't get as much lift when the solenoid fires - and the divots aren't usually the same depth from arm to arm. You want to make sure that the solenoid mechanism is free of binding/friction first, then if so, you can move the solenoid a little to give yourself a little more throw. See if that helps.

It might be possible that the solenoid isn't firing as strongly as it should too, either from a bad solder joint somewhere or the coil itself partially shorting or something. That's probably the least likely explanation, though.

Good luck!

I am also restoring a Gottlieb High Hand and had the same problem with the drop targets not resetting. I problem on my machine was in the scoring motor reset switches. There is a reset switch for the two upper drop target and a different reset switch for the lower two drop targets. If the switch is too far apart the drop targets do reset but the time to catch and keep them up is not enough. I solved the problem by bending the appropriate reset switch a fraction of an inch closer together. Since I made this change they reset every time. Could you check your machine and look at motor c4 switch. Please tell me what color are the two wires on the solder points for this switch. I have only one wire connected and the other post is not connected to any wire.

Hi unwound , Welcome to pinside!

The card that should be stapled to the left side of the cabinet will tell what the three Motor 4C switches are for. Then it'll hopefully be a simple matter of finding the switch you're interested in on the schematic.

You are correct. I have done that and I believe that it must have been tied to a switch below. There is no signs of any missing wire and no wires extending for below. I just wanted to verify that my conclusions were correct, before I connect it too the switch below being Tom has an actual machine.

Perhaps one of the scoring switches for the drop targets is stuck closed? I'm not sure that could cause reset problems, but it's possible. And if you adjusted the drop target scoring switches to reduce friction, it's possible one of them is stuck closed.

Hi Tom.
The switch is 4c. The middle one of the three. What are the color of the wires connected to this switch?
Thanks, Larry

From the pictures that you took (thanks) it looks like the top wire is green/white. Is there a wire from this switch that connects to a post on the level under the c level? Thanks again.