Even with the gate in there I have had it sneak in with a ricochet shot from the right flipper. When my gate fell out I stretched it and then put it back. Fell out the first time around 50 games and so far, after stretching and over 500 games, it has not fallen out again. I would not put it back without stretching it out some and it doesn't take a much stretch to resolve it. Had they just made the wire just 1 mm longer this would not be an issue. From what we have seen the replacements are not any different so getting a new one from stern will not resolve it.

Bending my one way gate worked and I have not had it come out since. I believe I'm near 800-900 plays on mine. The plastic to the left of the demogorgon comes off with 2 screws and a spacer. That one plastic makes it much easier to get your fingers down there to adjust the gate or remove it.

On newer machines the ball lock on the left ramp has been fixed and if you have one of the machines that does have the issue contact them to get the updated part. My machine was delivered on Jan 15th and has not had an issue with that ball lock post. It's so important to the game I would rather fix it if there is a problem than make it virtual.