2 thoughts on this:
- Are you using low magnetic balls? If not, that might cause the locked ball to be lifted enough for the switch to un-/retrigger and have the game think the ball was just dropped into 4. Raising the mech might work though.
- Is you Ball in hand switch working? That is supposed to reduce the magnet power once the ball is caught. If not, it might cause the same problem.

- I have no clue, how to tell if a ball is low magnetic or not? But yes, I can see the first locked ball clearly being raised, although only by a little (because the hand is quite low and the second ball is passing just above the first one). So it may be that the first ball un-trigger and re- trigger, so the second ball is dropped, and when the hand moves enough to the left the ball drops on 5.
- The glove looks like working fine as far as I can tell. Everything seems to work fine, except the described problem.

If you take out the balls and put them next to each other on a flat surface, do they stick to each other? Then they have become magnetized and (the ones that do attach to others) should be replaced. Either by low magnetic ones or just by normal ones and possibly more often - the low magnetic ones do still magnetized over time but just take longer..
The Ball in hand switch would be shown as an error once you enter the game menu.
Raising the mech a little like yurijos suggested is also a good idea.

I’m in.

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I need a right ramp for mine. Anyone have one?

Somebody did a nice job keeping the sun off that Johnny. Nice red! Orange and yellow cabs aren’t uncommon. Congrats on a fantastic, underrated pin!

when a game is over the matrix catapult the balls resting on it. but if i play the start button immediately after the game is over, a nee game starts, and the balls stay on the matrix. during this new game, when I lock a ball, a new one is taken from the other balls remained on the matrix.

is this normal behaviour? not a big deal, I
just have to wait around 3 seconds after game over to have the balls "catapulted". But sometimes I dont wait, and I always wonder if its normal having those balls in the matrix.

Same on mine. It's normal for me.

Has anyone removed both Rubbers off this Pops Exit? I already removed 1. Huge slow down here. Wish there was just a ball guide in this area. Any ideas? Also, what is that plastic with the hole for?

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Any key fob available for JM?

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That’s a nice looking Johnny

Seems to only be listed (not sold) for $100! Wow

Thanks. $100!!???

I just recently realized there is a "Special" in JM (only available as a Mistery Award in the Matrix, I guess), down the right outlane. How does it work? Can you collect it only when you loose the ball (on the right outlane)? If so, isnt' it stupid? Or if you collect it that way, the ball is then saved and returned to play?

It looks like you can set it to what you want according to page 1-23 in the manual.

Long time lurker and first time poster.

Picked up a Johnny as my first pinball a few weeks ago and happy to be a member of the club. Had a few electrical issues as well the standard fade but have already rectified the majority of the electrical gremlins (mainly broken wires that needed resoldering), replaced some playfield parts and added LED's. Plans are to enjoy it while everything is working, before stripping it back to clean up the cab, re-decal, clean up some of the wiring and replace a few plastics etc...
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Welcome, I am new as well one month old. I’ve been thinking of putting mirror blades. Do you have any plans on putting side blades? Also, what’s your feelings on the ball exiting the pops exit? Kinda slows down play too much for me.

I'm in a similar boat, also looking at mirror blades as they would make the game pop as well as throwing some extra light around....which wouldn't hurt. Some of the side blades from retrorefurbs do look pretty nice though. Will just keep making my way through the 75 pages of this thread to see some other machines and when it comes time for a tear down I'll pull the trigger then.

I quite like the time to drain out from the pops, it gives a nice reprieve before the right sling shot ensures further chaos. The out lanes were set to their narrowest from the previous owner, and that definitely helped, although I have adjusted them back to standard which surprisingly hasn't affected side drains.

1. What about video frames and set(s)? The manual says there are 50 video frames in one set. Does that mean there are 50 in total? Or is there more than one set? Whats to point of collecting video frames after having achieved the free ball after a certain amount of video frames (set jn the adjustments)?

2. Items for Crazy Bob: are they available only after completing successfully a mode? Do the number of items influence power down? If yes, in which way: more time or more points awarded?

Flippers die for some reason sometimes during game play? Any ideas?

Anyone out there who can take a picture of their back box light panel board, I rebuilt the board due to some MDF that swelled well now my lights are not really working.

I could use a picture of the front so I know where the flashers go - the back so I can look at the wiring. I have the wiring breakdown for the plug via the manual which should be right.

One other question… I have a couple random lights not coming on. I have traced it to the brown wire and the white with brown stripe is the common factor for all the lights out. I re-pinned those wires on j120 (redid the whole plug). I have swapped the MPU thinking something wrong there - nothing. Looking for a pinch or cut but can’t find a thing. No voltage at the sockets…any tips?

So I think one of the light sockets has to be shorting out - I repinned plugs j120 and j115 no change, swapped MPU and power driver boards no changes and the boards were just sent back from Coin Op Cauldron so they are good.

Has to be a lamp socket. They all look good but something is funky, can’t think what else it could be no hacked wires etc…

wamonkey I'm in the midst of repairs/cleanup from a busted water pipe, and can shoot you an image or two sometime next week if you don't get one sooner. I have the contents of two rooms in front of my pins, and I need that moved so I can roll JM out and open the BG

Thanks I will PM my personal email

I actually found the answers in the manual.

1. Completing the all 50 video frame set gives points.

2. Getting items from Crazy Bob when lit (light on the sign and insert flashing), shows a special small lightning icon on the information on the display. You can also get them as an award in the matrix. These items are important during Powerdown, because you can use this lightnings DURING POWERDOWN to increase the power left in each zone shooting at Crazy Bob. Each visit to Crazy Bob uses one lightning. So basically you get extra time for Powerdown. And becuase the scoring of Powerdown is also based on power (time) left, this also influence the score.

The rulesheet at Papa do not mention
these very interesting deep rules of the game. They actually add lots of depth, so
I think the rulesheet should be updated.
How to do this?

Items are available at Crazy Bob’s when you successful complete a mode. the further in the mode also gets you more GBs. Without 320GB you can not start Power Down.

Johnny forces you to play the modes and not time them out. The 50GB award from the matrix is pivotal if you stink at completing the modes.

EDIT - Fixed the issue, took all the chips out, dropped some contact cleaner into the slots and reseated them all, seems to be booting up and playing fine.

Quick question, My JM came with the original 0.4R U6 Rom and 0.2 Sound Set. I just got my 1.2R game rom and 1.0 Sound Set from an authorised Williams reseller.

I've installed the new chips and I'm left with a machine that no longer boots. It powers up, however that's where it stops. No sound, no DMD, no lights....nothing.

Any ideas before I throw the old chipset back in?

Cheers.

Did you insert the ICs in the wrong direction?

Hey all I asked for backbox pics - I got one set that should work - thanks all for the replies....

Cool! I just got my JM accessible again about an hour ago. The plumbing repair turned into an accompanying electrical repair before I could close up the wall

LMK if you still need images

I have my JM up for sale in the market.

Is there any replacement ramps available? I just ordered a cliffy set to stop the cracking on the left ramp...

Only place I have been able to find ramps is from Australia. I have not ordered a set because I'm sure the shipping is ridiculous.

https://www.pinballspareparts.com.au/jm-set.html

Ramps I purchased were at Pinball Center in Germany or wherever but you have to use a mail forwarder. It’s not hard to ship…the mail forwarder is easy to work with and I have had no issues with it.

BTW - the Australian site is really not that bad for shipping considering you can’t get it elsewhere. I have bought from them it wasn’t like being robbed or anything.

Both Takes time…neither is like US shipping but these days it isn’t cheap or fast either.

I would say hit and miss with pinball Center company, they have stuff listed no where else and I have purchased from them multiple times.

Also if you replace your ramp they sell stickers which but I can’t say I recommend, I reused my old stickers from my ramp because what Pinball Center sent was the not so good….

But they have stuff sold no where else….

The Australian pinball parts I had no issues with stuff came surprisingly fast and again not awful prices even with shipping….

That really isn't a bad price for all three plastic moldings. My damage so far is minimal and will be covered with the Cliffy. Now its a waiting game. out of order until then. I will shoot them an Email and ask for the cost of only the left ramp shipped to the US. Thanks for the info guys.

I could use ramps too, but how are you guys planning on getting new decals to go on the ramps?

They sale the

Good Question. I thought I saw them available somewhere. For now I’m going to seal and cover the cracks with Cliffy’s.

Re-used the decals for me worked. I ordered them from Pinball center and the decals were not that good and decided to keep my old ones.

It was scary to think if I messed them up my options were limited but it ended up being pretty easy.

There are forum posts on how to reuse your decals.

Joining the squad. Picked a JM up and now upgrading and fixing a few things (new pf rubbers, color DMD, hopefully some Cliffys to protect the cracked ramps ). Translite got damaged on transport so I might be looking for a replacement, but so far seems to be a challenge to find in great quality.

Is there set screws in the X,Y, screw drive shaft? Yesterday my Hand Mech. got stuck. I had to manually move it to Home Position. I believe there is holes for set screws. I can't find no information on part numbers. Everything seems to be working fine but looks to be missing something on that Spider gear.

There is a set screw for the opto wheels. The entire part here: https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/03-9460

There should also be set screws in your spider couplings: https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/20-10278

However if the hand is getting jammed there is a good chance the relays on the motor board are going bad. They control the motor polarity and if they fail to engage or disengage the motor will continue to run in one direction. It's very hard to troubleshoot because it'll often be at random. It's an easy fix. Solder new relays onto the board:
https://www.marcospecialties.com/control/keywordsearch?SEARCH_STRING=5580-14722-00

I did this on my game and the hand has run flawless, hasn't jammed since.

Here was my problem. This little roller switch was getting stuck forward. This was the issue with the hand getting stuck whining forward.

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Damn, Dave- you make that shirt look GOOD

In this episode I show you all the work involved in getting this playfield looking brand new.

I just picked up my first JM last week. Such a fun and fast game! It is fully LED'd, and I'm wondering if I should move the GI OCD board from my Demo Man to my Johnny. It seems like this game would really benefit from the board, especially during Power Down. Thoughts?

I personally think this is an awesome game for LEDs, theme wise. I use OCD boards on both the GI and controlled. It was a great purchase and the results are excellent.