Quoted from zaphX:I concur with others that the cover binding your spinner may have gotten bent during one of the Pearl removals.
Did you ever set it face down?
Honestly if this were me I would just lift up on it gently until the bracket is bent enough that the spinner is free.
I had a similar issue with the Dauntless on another game where the top cover was bent down and not allowing the ship to freely rock.
I don’t think being outraged or “why me” over this minor issue is worth it. Pinball is like this.
Instead you should feel proud that you diagnosed the problem and have a couple of easy solutions to it that don’t require waiting on any parts!
I may regret this, but what is the second BP issue?
It must have. I don’t remember the spinner being an issue before I took it off. At least not the left one.
It seems entirely possible that you can just sorta push down on that cannon molding piece and it will press against the spinner rod. Simply lifting up on this molding frees the spinner. I have contemplated doing just that and putting it back and sorta hoping it stays in the “up” position. On mine anyway, there’s quite a bit of play with that piece and a washer or 2 doesn’t really make much difference.
I was considering maybe trying like foam as well to act as a barrier. At this point I think I just want to move that piece up, put the ship back, play the game, and see how it goes. Addressing it again, if necessary, won’t require removing the ship anyways.
The other issue was the original flipper issue which is mostly resolved. I was just counting the issues. The plunger is coming up out of the assembly sort of sluggish or slower than the other (so when the flipper is coming back down) so since I have the ship off I was going to look at this a little closer.