I have recently "inherited" a 1975-ish Bally Bow and Arrow. My mom bought it when we were teenager, in the early 80s. I am sure nothing has been done to it once she acquired it. So, now I am trying to repair it, my kids are eager to play it. Many plastic parts are disintegrating. It seems to work for the most part.
What I have done: cleaned, waxed, replace all the rubber rings, replaced the ball, replaced burnout light bulbs on the playfield. Learned to solder, replaced the pop bumpers that were chipping, (that seems to have been successful).
Current problem: Flipper! They were working, without much power. The flipper plastic bats were breaking. So I replaced the bats. Their hitting power continues to degrade, it has the stupid set screws to tighten the flipper bat, now that I have replaced the flipper bat, I can't keep them tight. So I’ve ordered a flipper rebuild kit. And I am struggling. The new linkage hole is so tight that I can barely get it on the lever arm. I have to really force it to get it to move. I am sure my old linkage hole was elongated, but I am afraid if I put this in it will not work correctly and cause my coil to burn up. Is it normal for a new plunger and link assembly to not move easily on the lever arm?
I've attached a picture. The top is the new lever arm and new link and plunger connected. The bottom one is the new link and plunger assembly sitting in the old lever arm. The new lever arm shaft is bigger than the old one. I am debating whether to use my old lever arms and the new link or if I need to get different parts.