If you really need to use those legs...Put the leg on, the lower hole of leg lines up with the upper hole of cabinet. Now use the upper hole of leg as a guide and drill new hole. Check in the cab before drilling to not hit anything.
Now add a piece of wood inside cab like factory and spin the bolt plate up to the new hole.

Plan b is put 27" legs on.

Plan c is cut the legs down on lower portion and re-weld them together. Not preferred but easy enough.

-Mike

I'd cut them right at the bottom and then re-weld the nut plate back on ....that is your strongest leg integrity for a heavy machine

I’d lean to sourcing 27” legs (they def exist). If and when you go to sell the next person will likely be put off by the third hole. Also, remove the nut under the front legs and run leveler in all the way, then set pitch to 6.5deg. I dont own a lot of newer sterns but didnt think there was that much of a height difference conpared to B/W’s?

Plan D: dig out basement floor and underpin foundation

Do not drill a new hole in the cabinet. Cut the legs or source some shorter ones. Legs are cheap to replace.

Plan E:
Buy a new house with a proper pinball walk-in basement

You’ll need it when you buy your 5th game soon

Buy the 27" legs. Period.

Just don’t play any games on a Big Guns if you see it.

Ya, Big Guns is one machine to avoid for you!!

And probably don't get a Hercules either....

I too would cut the legs and weld on a new base with a welded nut. But I own a welder.

Drilling out the leg hole will result in a poor fit to the machine cabinet and will likely cause wear to the cabinet. If you need to shorten the leg by 2", cut the leg off at two inches from the bottom. Insert the bottom part inside of the top part and clamp together. Weld or drill and machine screw together.

I do this all the time- Take a junky set of legs, anti-rust bath, chop them an inch from the bottom and section out 2" to 5" depending on what I'm aiming for. Weld back together on the inside portion and paint and you can't tell it has been done.

I use a Dewalt chop saw, goes through them like butter and perfectly square.

Get rid of the dinning room table and put the pins in there.

Seriously. No one eats at the table anymore!

Use a metal cutting wheel - looks like a thin grinding wheel. Either a 7" blade for a circular saw, a 3" blade on a cut-off saw, or a 14" chop saw.

Chop saw for perfect. If you already have a circular saw or 3" saw it will do just fine, and you will find a bunch of other uses for the blade once you have one.

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hey Anony sorry for the Zombie thread bump, but was curious how you made out? Tee'd Off had the 27" legs standard (unlike other system 3s with the 31). I have the same issue with my basement here in Buffalo...damn these people in the 1930s not thinking ahead!

Just curious how the welding went, etc!

I just ran into this issue too. Just buy the 27 inch legs and be done with it. You'll have plenty of room to spare. I got mine from marco

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/CABP-LEGS

I've got the same problem in one section of my basement arcade, I bought 27" legs and didn't install the feet on them, works great.

The game CAME with the proper 27" legs, sorry if that wasn't clear....i need like 2" shorter to properly level things.

I purchased a Gottlieb Spirit of 76 with the wrong legs. I wanted them shorter without spending money on different legs.I did not find the proper answer in this thread, so I proceeded logically. The legs were 28.5 inches tall, i put a pencil mark at 27 inches. I cut the bottom of the legs with an M18 grinder, leaving them as long as possible. I used the grinder to cut a slit on the corner up to my pencil mark. I put the leg on a 2x4 block and used a hammer to bend the leg at the pencil mark, one side on top of the other. I used the grinder to cut rough corners and edges. I am using them as is, or later i can drill a hole and add levelers with nuts if needed. I now have my machine ready to play.