my guess would be to replace the gearbox. talked to someone who had the same issue and the gearbox was it.

it was actually today, was talking to the guy who has a list of pins for sale in north jersey on craigslist, (called about his medieval) talked for 20+ minutes about what pins we had, and when i mentioned i had a theatre he went on to tell me about his trunk shutting the game down on him. after replacing the gearbox, his issue went away.

Glad I picked up that spare while they are available (not cheap though)

Williams ought to send all the pinsiders a whole new trunk setup for all the grief it gives us

and a shaker motor kit too

It would probably mess up the magna save optos LOL

Mark,
I have Repaired many TOM 14-8018, MB 14-8034 & I-500 14-8021.1 Gearboxes & have yet to see 1 with bad or stripped Gears, it has always been the 12V Motors Commutator/Brushes getting ruined by the Williams/Bally excuse for a Gear-Lube (the mysterious green liquid goo that turns solid after 10-15 years + it seems to be somewhat acidic 8-}).

If you are still getting a Trunk Error after rebuilding your Trunk Gearbox assembly & it is running smoothly a new 12V Motor will most likely fix the issue (running to slow for the Game code usually causes an error message).

Also be sure to reflow all the IDC Pins on the Trunk Motor Controller Board as that can cause it to run slow/intermediately as well.

I also offer a complete Gearbox Service - you send me your TOM Gearbox, I disassemble, clean, re-lube (w/Synthetic Lube), remove your Motors Brass Gear, press it onto the NOS Motor Shaft, includes a new Wiring Harness.

Bare 12V Motors are $35 shipped in the US (outside the US is $30 + actual shipping costs) - I also sell them with a new Wiring Harness @ $50.
You can also send me just your 12V Motor & I'll gladly remove the Brass Gear & install it on a new 12V Motor @ no extra charge.

For those that are Mechanically inclined here is the Micro gear Puller I use to SAFELY remove the Gear.
https://www.google.com/#hl=en&tbo=d&sclient=psy-ab&q=gws+micro+gear+puller+tool&oq=gws+micro+gear+puller+tool&gs_l=serp.3...74070.94591.5.95539.10.10.0.0.0.3.667.3222.1j2j0j3j1j2.9.0.les%3B..1.0...1c.1.Man7WjxqWx8&psj=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bvm=bv.41524429,d.b2I&fp=ab9bfcbdb4241013&biw=1097&bih=586

Pin - K

www.KimballsPinballs.com

Mark,

Forgot to mention this -make sure you are running the latest S/W Code

Pin - K

www.KimballsPinballs.com

Putting a shaker motor in TOM would be an abomination.

ebay.com link: 14 8018 THEATRE OF MAGIC Trunk Motor Gearbox pinball

Think it thru- it would include the option to disable it or enable it will!

LOL. You're missing my point.

I suppose the tiger saw mod is an abomination too then!

Nope, that is waaaaay cool. Also,it (the saw motor) was planned in the beginning by jpop but later cut due to budget. I don't believe a shaker was ever planned for. Some older pins are screaming for a shaker (MM and the castle for example) while others it would detract from (like TOM IMO)

Mark,

Take the trunk cover off and watch what happens when it errors. Hit it gently by hand and see if the amount of force determines whether or not it errors. It sounds like opto misalignment but who knows. Does it happen when the trunk is in a specific position? Open / Closed / Magnet ?

To each his own, I Guess. I played this game when it was new and loved it, but now compared to some of my machines that surround it it is starting to feel like a dead fish when I play it. Some of the sound and visual effects are just screaming for a little motion to enhance the overall feel of the game. Since I know this will probably never happen, I will go ahead and LED it out, add some color and drop a Gladiators next to it. How bout a little contact shaker!

Try this.....

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/if-your-tom-trunk-is-acting-up-clean-the-gear-boxjunk-in-the-trunk

I did that , functions MUCH better, still get a rare error, machine is much more enjoyable!

Check what ROM version you are running.
Adjust EDDY board pot
Flow all opto connections and clean them.
Check interrupter wheel for correct placement and no cracks.

Some say or claim the LED from the eddy board can affect the trunk opto's and give it a false reading. The same people claim putting a piece of tape or tubing over the LED fixed their problem.
I am not entirely buying into that but I suppose its possible. Hey if it works.......

Adjust the pot so the red LED light goes out and is not always lit was what I was shooting for.
If that in front of the trunk eddy is out of adjustment you will get a funky multiball at times (on my ROM anyway). The clue is hitting multiball and no music when the animation is starting on the DMD.

You mean that electricity sound before the dude says "Multiball". I was missing that too until I replaced a bad trunk magnet and adjusted the eddy pot.

Yep. that's it.

If the eddy is out of adjustment or the LED solidly lit you will be missing the sound prior to MB.

I was unable to repair this problem on my TOM. Replaced just about everything and never resolved anything. Hitting the trunk during it's movement phase seems to confuse/mess things up. Reading about how common this is with this particular table I'm inclined to believe it's a software bug or something along that line. Good luck though and please post if you are able to resolve.

Its not that common (trunk issues) and mine did the same until I really went thru it.
Cleaning the gear box was the biggest fix. The trunk rotates twice as fast and smooth. I think I am running ROM 1.3.

Correct.
I always turn the adjustment pot to its max travel clockwise and CCW a few times to hopefully "clean" the contacts then set the adjustment. Following that I test it with a ball.

They are down to three left. Is that the end of the road for NOS ToM gearbox and motors?

Thanks Mark!

I will keep update on my Box...see how it goes down!

I recently had a nightmare fixing my trunk, the trunk would stop diagonally and you would have to shut off & on. Here's what I did, I replaced the trunk motor, cleaned out the gearbox, added new pinbits eddy switches and it still did it. The problem went away after I replaced the opto board for the trunk and I also put one of those aluminum interrupters, the thing works like a champ. I don't think the software is the problem (BTW I updated to the newer revision too), I spoke to JPOP about this and his reply was "The trunk should be active the whole game in some fashion. It should never stop at 45 degrees also".

Had the same problem as most people...shooting the trunk while rotating gave me a trunk error.
In test everything checked out and the problem stayed away a while and then resurfaced again.

Cleaned out and re-lubed the gearbox and a new motor from KimballsPinballs...and the problem is now gone!

The problem is now solved, see here:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/tom-trunk-error-leons-fix-anyone-done-this