I have a flipper that sticks up occasionally for mechanical reasons. A little touch gets it back to operational and sometimes just hitting the flipper button again does it. I understand that something is binding up and I have read a dozen things I shouldn't do (WD-40, graphite, etc) but precious little about what I should do. The spring on the solenoid seems strong (stronger than the other flipper for sure). I used compressed air to clean it out which worked pretty well for a while - seems like it spread a little bit of natural graphite all over. I can't get the flipper to stick by manipulating the flipper and other parts of the assembly, trying to bind it up. The travel seems to be appropriate and it never touches the playfield.

What has me concerned is that it has a little squeak/grind when I manipulate the flipper, like metal to metal contact. Should I take it out and polish/clean the metal parts or is something worn out? The squeak doesn't seem to come from the solenoid part of the flipper but I can't tell exactly where it is coming from in the rest of the assembly. If I do polish parts, I assume I can use some sort of polishing media that I would clean off after. There is a little bit of corrosion in my machine; it has probably dwelled in a basement for most of its 30+ years.

Thanks, but here's a curveball from Pinball Resource:

Flipper Rebuild Kits
"Bally Rolling Stones 5/80 To Truck Stop (Upper flippers) 11/88
Excluded Game: Eight Ball Champ (Unique Hardware)"

Guess which game I have...

I can find some of the parts (I may have to call Pinball Resource on Monday, as I can't figure out how to find stuff on their website). I am going to start with the bearing and the flipper and go from there.

Thanks, guys. Looks like the switch on the right flipper is different than in the 03 kit pictured (double switch), but the other parts look like they match. I can probably get the switch somewhere or call Pinball Resource when they open Monday.

I cleaned it up in the meantime. There was quite a bit of gunk in the bearing that I got out. I cam at least play this snow day.

On another note, I cleaned the pot on my squawk and talk board and now it talks! Fun times! Looks like this auction sweetie is working out!

This might have been my problem. It appears that the previous owner already re-built the flippers, but they were a bit sloppy up/down and not *quite* aligned right. After cleaning the bearing on the right flipper and improving the alignment, I think I am back up and running. Strange thing that there are no "e-rings" on the lever arms to keep the plunger links in place. Seems to work without them, but I figure I should clean it up and install the little clips. The lack of e-rings might also be the culprit for the flipper binding up.

Not sure exactly what you mean. I never expected this to be a "restored" machine. To your point, I AM dealing with a few idiosyncrasies and partial repairs by the previous owner and/or his hired technician. Which is kinda what I expected when I bought the machine at an auction with unknown provenance for $400. It was pretty clear from the start that I would have to fix stuff. There were a half-dozen blown fuses in the cabinet when I bought it and not everything was functional.

So far, I am happy to use this machine to learn about the hobby without much financial risk. This machine probably doesn't warrant a full restoration, but with a decent refurb it will be a very playable game. This is what I am working toward, and I feel like I am almost there. I doubt that I will sell this machine while I still own a home that has space for it.

Like I have said before, I appreciate everyone's help and guidance. I am definitely catching the bug.

vid1900, I am going to remove the playfield soon so that I can do several solder repairs. I will take a snap of the right flipper switch then. In the interim, the attached schematic from the manual seems to be spot-on.

Capture (resized).PNG

Since I cleaned and adjusted the flippers, they work fine. I still don't have the "e-clips" but they are apparently not essential. I suspect they may actually contribute to the flippers binding up and that is why they are gone.

Like I said earlier, someone rebuilt the flippers at some point. My plunger and link assembly look like the picture of the rebuild kit above, but don't match the schematic above (or the one in my manual). I think I am dealing with a minor mod because the original parts would be very rare as it seems Bally only used that assembly on my machine that only 1500 copies were made. The rebuild kit seems to work, but it is not a perfect replacement.

I read somewhere that Eight Ball Champ has some wonky stuff because it was designed by Bally right before they merged with Midway. Bally was trying to evolve their mechanical and electrical systems but didn't work out that way after the merger.

I understand where you are coming from. At this point, the "03" rebuild kit is not exactly what I need from what I can surmise. I have 3 flippers and the right one has a double switch and the switch geometry seems to be different in the kit. The plunger link in the rebuild kit is also a different geometry than OEM. So, it looks like someone already installed this rebuild kit (perhaps without replacing the switches and probably forgetting the e-clips). If I were to do anything to the flippers now, I would replace the switches first as the flippers seem really mechanically sound after I adjusted out the up/down slop and cleaned the gunk out of the bearings. The lane change switch doesn't always register (after adjustment and cleaning) and it looks like the contacts on the flipper switches are getting a bit worn. I could probably also replace the return spring on the left flipper as it seems weak compared to the right flipper.

Like I mentioned, I intended to call Pinball Resource and figure out exactly what I need but I haven't taken the chance yet. I will also pick up e-clips next time I am in a hardware store.

Thanks, again for the advice!