Quoted from NightTrain:

Ok so my Smaug head was still giving me issues last night.
I powered the game on and it does the calibration and then the head did it's "stutter/shake" thing again when it hits the right stop. I shut down the game and pulled the glass. I manually moved his head from stop to stop and found it binding a bit when going to the right stop. Looking at it more I do see that some wires are getting tight.
I lifted the playfield. There are 2 looms of wires that run up into his head. The one on the right (see picture) actually comes from above the playfield, then through this hole and up into his head. That's the one that is getting tight. I pulled on it with pick to try and give it slack. When it goes back and forth, it gets tight again. No matter what I did, I couldn't get these wires to have more slack.
It's almost as if the hold these two looms pass through is a bit too small. Any ideas here? Anyone else have this issue? Is there a way to remove his head and still have the turntable there so I can get a better look?

[quoted image]

Quoted from BozoTheClown:

Having issues getting Smaug to smoothly rotate back and forth, it won't even fully rotate right without coming back to center. I'm guessing that the stepper motor is on its way out but figured I would solicit second opinions here. I have attached a short video of test mode. (I have reseated the cable going to the stepper motor already) Is there anywhere I can get a replacement motor other than JJP?
https://www.dropbox.com/s/re1nbzcnaymzski/PXL_20210815_135430409.mp4?dl=0

Quoted from Travahontas:

I think your theory about the wire harness is a good one - you need a certain amount of "slack" in that harness for the head to rotate freely. You should be able to feel any snagging by rotating his head by hand (when the game is powered off)... If you lift the playfield and try and "shove" the harnesses up into the Smaug mech, that might be enough to free up his movement... (it's quick, so worth a try anyway)... Good pics of the mech and harnesses in this old post:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/hobbit-owners-thread/page/135#post-4891745

Quoted from IronMan8Bit:

So pulled the wire harness through all the way as far as I could, tighten up some loose nuts that secured the mech to the playfield underneath still nothing. Only way it works is if the playfield is up. Once I put it down onto the cabient stops working and starts locking up. Is this a motor issue? Is it too tight on top of the playfield?

Quoted from IronMan8Bit:

Ok I ended up getting it about 30 mins ago! Lol it was that metal rod that holds the motor in place. I ended up pulling it down and re-tightened it back in a good place. It was pushed down too much so the guide that goes inbetween the sensors wasn't making it past them.
On to the next issues:
1. Audio is getting some interference like fuzziness once in awhile. Guessing maybe a ground or something is off?
2. Some of the drop targets are grinding as the fire up. I think I read that's a pitch issue? About to level out the game soon.
Thanks for the current help and ongoing help I'm sure!

Quoted from kempsuk:

Good deal. Are you able to provide a little more detail on what you had to remove etc, to get to the metal rod? Maybe a few pictures. Thank you in advance.

Quoted from Travahontas:

Check out the rule sheet. It has all the details: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-hobbit-rulesheet/page/4#post-5735785