I'd take one as well please.

My experience, yes, it is necessary. I recently bought a HUO MET Pro that had 3500 plays and it had a cliffy from day 1 and that metal piece was actually bent in the middle from all the times the ball slammed into it. I had to straighten it out in a vice as it was affecting the ball trajectory when plunged. So I can imagine what the wood would have looked like if it wasn't there.

ok I am giving a plug for the "Metallica LED Insert Mod - Cross, Chair, Coffin & Snake". What a difference this mod makes to the look of the pin - no more ugly hot spots. Awesome job - hats off to pinsider HankScorpio. I recommend this to everyone with a Metallica.

Oh yeah, Metallica might be the best playing pin ever and I am not a big fan of the band. Stern did a nice job on this one.

Lots of people commenting on ridiculous markups by the Mod guys. Well you do realize all retailers work with this model right? There is a reason stores can offer 50% off sales all the time and still make money. Most small businesses and retailers don't make money the way WalMart does (low margins based upon insane volumes of sale).

If you can find this stuff from the cheaper source - then buy there. If you aren't being a responsible consumer by doing your research then you aren't as much a sucker as just a poorly informed and lazy consumer - let's face it that is to a large extent what makes capitalism work (lazy consumers).

Well I figured with the new code update it was time to show my MET a little love. I installed a new magnet core in front of sparky as the old one was starting to meld with the playfield and the ball was starting to skip a little. I also replaced the Nylon diverter up-post on the back with the recommended Williams metal one - wow, this resolved 100% my only complaint with the game! The ball now goes to the pops when it is supposed to as opposed to slowly rolling back down the left orbit - rejected. Awesome! And I installed a PinPac external headphone kit - so now when the little kids come over I can play Metallica without the "Adult" sounds and I can skip the long drawn out Sparky animation (when I feel like it) by changing the volume.

MET and TWD are the best!

There is a complete thread on this here:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/diverter-post-replacement-for-metallica-and-others

The Williams part is A-17986.

When putting screws into the underside of the playfield I will (sometimes) cut the pointed tip off the screw (as the tip does not provide any additional bite but only really acts as a way to center and start the hole (which can be achieved by a punch or a few light taps on the pointed screw with a hammer). I am always nervous when doing this as well. Sometimes I may even add an additional washer if the bracket appears a little thin. Of course none of this helps if you use a screw with the incorrect length - I always place the screw along the edge of the playfield to gauge the true length compared to the playfield - wouldn't be the first time a longer screw fell into the wrong bin compartment.

One simple (low-tech) solution that worked for me was to place a thin felt pad (you know the stuff you can buy at the hardware store with the sticky backing) underneath the bottom of the plunger - attach to the bracket upon which the plunger comes to rest (the plunger will rest on it instead of the metal bracket). This has the effect of reducing the stroke of the armature/plunger just enough to change the trajectory.

Simple - no tools required - and it has worked for me for 2+ years now.