I'm thinking we get nothing but at a minimum they should offer 10% off at the Stern online store good on anything. I could save a few bucks on the bloody armor.

all slam ramps dig in. My atlantis did it, black rose did it, they all do it. It's nothing new and not a flaw. it's the way ramps that go up and down do damage. If your worried. Put some mylar down. 10 years from now, restore it. then with the added clear, you will never break through the clear again.

Does Pinbot do it? I don't think I've seen wear under a Pinbot ramp.

pinbot has wear everywhere usually.

Hahaahahahaha, so true

I'm pretty sure my BSD doesn't do it like this. Perhaps some at the blade, but not the gouges the LE ramp is creating at the rivets.

Longer blade, slightly shorter ramp would have likely eliminated the major problem as the rivets wouldn't even touch the playfield then. But hell I don't design pinball machines or anything else for that matter, so I don't know, that's just how it looked to me when I pulled mine apart.

On my game, the damage is not being caused by the metal ramp flap, but from the actual plastic ramp itself (and possibly the rivets as well). Because of a bad design, the edge of the ramp hits the playfield and digs in. Mylar will not help. There is already mylar in that area from the factory, and the ramp sliced right through it like a knife through butter. This happened right away, not over the course of thousands of plays. It is completely different than the typical wear you might get from a ramp on a game like Pin*Bot.

Agreed. Mine seems to be from the plastic edge of the ramp not the metal.

Ok. When my distributor tells me Stern's got a fix ready, I'll stomp my feet and complain instead of confirming he's got my correct address. Sheesh.

Gotcha. I was under the impression that it was like a atlantis, pinbot , NGG type system. Rivits digging in, is a different animal.

I am curious to see what stern comes up with. There are multiple issues with this ramp.

1. Rivets too close to bottom edge and ramp edge too sharp.

2. Top of ramp flap does not line up with rest of ramp.

3. Left side ramp entrance wall needs to be taller to keep balls from launching off of it and into the ramp next to it.

4. Ramp door is too thick at bottom and metal flap is too short. This causes the ball to instantly get airborne.

To me the entire ramp flap/door needs to be revamped. This coupled with an extension piece that would sit on the left side of the ramp would be ideal. I actually fabricated a piece for the left side and now my only issue is the air balls from the short entrance flap and these balls not making it up all the way.

Yes, in looking at my BSD, the metal blade is longer so the plastic and rivets don't touch the playfield. The only real fix for TWDLE is a redesigned ramp. Anything else is a patch and we'll see how it impacts game play. I'm fairly certain we'll only get some little odds and ends and not a redesigned piece. Maybe they'll redesign the piece for the Premium and really give people something to bitch about in the other thread. lol

If they copied the piece on BSD, the plastic ramp part would have been designed shorter and the metal longer so that only the blade itself touches the playfield. Eventually from making the shot the blade would cut into the mylar, but it's easier to replace mylar than deal with a gouged playfield.

In the meantime I've got some of the stick on felt coming tomorrow via Amazon. Hopefully the temporary fixes anyone does, doesn't make the Stern fix unusable. That'll be a fun call to have with them to try and get them to send out a brand new ramp flap.

Well they could use the same ramp design. They just need to grind down the edge of the ramp so that a nice flat surface meets the mylar. Then get a larger metal flap and rivet it up about 1/2" higher. This would solve the the playfield wear and the air balls. If their fix isn't to my liking this is what I plan to do to mine.

Are you for real?

Stern has had ample time testing the LE, and would have seen the ramp problem way before they were available for $ale to the public.

Maybe if they would release 1 machine instead of Pro, Premium, LE , Luci etc
there would be more time fore codes, QC would be better, etc etc

I think I have a pretty good way to make the outlanes a little more tolerable, still drains but kinda makes it like there was a third level of movement of the post available. Used a full inch rubber on the posts and 2 of the 3/16 for thin post on the plastic piece. Worth a try.

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After getting my ass kicked in 4 out of 5 games, I'm moving those outlanes. I drain much more often from right sling to left outlane than from the pops or either of the magnets.

Good luck I moved mine seems Hazoff may be onto something! Even though i'm not quite sure what I need to do it, Hazoff maybe a link to that post sleeve? Sorry i'm still a newbie

No problem, It has helped exponentially. Still challenging but a lot better.

http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/38-0316

Its up to you for the three posts whether you like a tight fit or a little bit looser, 1" or 1 1/2" always wise to pick up several sizes, the rubbers are so cheap and that way you can adjust it all to your preference.

http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/RUBB-RING

Thanks will get on this as the drains L/R are killing me! I know I suck but this has been brutal in my limited time on my pin! And to think my Met pro was brutal? I play it just to fell better now!

What is that red sleeve on the post?

I'm pretty good at pinball, been playing a long time and this pin kicks my ass way more than IM. It is tough but so rewarding when you have a great game and that makes it even better.

What sleeve? The star post.

http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/03-8319-9

I change as many thin posts to this style as I can, as long as it doesn't interfere with ball flow, some spots have to be the thinner style but I like the look of star posts better and you need to use a different rubber than the 3/16 ID. 5/16 ID

http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/38-0516

Yeah that's it the star post. Thanks

Agree that the magnet and the pops are NOT the problem on this game...for me at least....

its those hungry outlanes....thanks for the tip

I also find that i cant shake/nudge those 50/50 balls (destined for inlane or outlane) like i can on my AC/DC. With that game, when the ball destination is still in doubt, i can shake it with great success....with TWD, i dont get as much action from the rubbers... is this helping with that?

I did adjust in addition the sling power from 32 to 29. Helps much to avoid sling related drains.
It's worth to try.
To reduce STDM from the pop bumpers I did change the really thin black metal post rubber to Williams post rubber which is little bit greater in the diameter than the STERN. So ball is running along the right ramp, hit the rubber and STDM's are gone. It doesn't affect the Tunnel shoot in any negative way. Try it !

I'm not sure if the red apron would fit, due to the crossbow ! Its labeled as PRO Mod only, I did ask Pin Ref but currently not reply.

Pin Ref are making a red one now for the LE. Will look great I think.
There is more action from the rubbers now for sure, I have to say this is a must for your TWD, change the outlane rubbers to what I posted you will notice a difference, now most of my drains are between the flippers.

Well, I have a mod I don't suggest anyone try. It's called dropping the pin that attaches the BG ramp to the plastic post that lifts it up and down. My game ate it!!!! I seriously just spent an hour and a half hunting for it and it's nowhere to be found. So now I have no ramp in there and a boxes of goodies to install and no more time. Frustrating. I want my Refinery backbox light kit in (plus speaker lights, plus undercab). Plus I got the Mezel hitchhiker sign. Ugh. And where's my topper Stern!!! Ok rant done.

If anyone knows what those pins are actually called I will order myself a bunch. Apparently my sausage fingers cannot manipulate them very well to get them back into place.

I have the star posts and I'm going to try Hazoff's trick above, that's really clever. Thanks.

My ramp is currently apart, and I've been dreading re-attaching this part. I'm sure if you call Stern they can send you out another one.

The hitchhiker sign from Mezelmods is awesome. Just installed it last night. The woodbury sign is a must as well. I know exactly what screw you're talking about because I was fooling with the same ramp last night trying to install a BG ramp light for it. Oh, almost forgot. Get the prison door overhang as well. Really small but it makes a BIG difference in cosmetics.

Be sure to use the 3/16 ID rubbers on the lane guides as well or it won't help all that much, however both are a serious game changer.

Awesome, ordering them in a bit.

Oh and Gweem. Had I done what I'd planned instead of doing it half assed, I'd have tucked a rag behind the white plastic post it attaches to and left my little magnet wand on the playfield in the event I fumbled it. Maybe that would have helped or maybe the game just hates me and beating me up while playing wasn't enough, it doesn't want me playing it at all!

Why did you have the ramp off? Mine was off so I could use a Dremel to try and fix the ramp wear issue. I've had so much going on lately that I haven't gotten around to it yet.

I had the ramp off to dremel the blade smooth. Got that done and I found that stick on felt on amazon so I ordered a piece. It adhered shockingly well and didn't seem to alter how the blade would touch the playfield. A piece 2" wide by just over 1/4" covers side to side, just over the rivets, but is still very thin. So I figured I'd test fit it and play a game and see if that would fix things until the Stern fix comes in.

The game is addictive so I was trying to minimize my down time for it.

Are you sure that they will do? Sent them a mail last Monday, no answer til yet

Most have missed your email. Yes, we will have the aprons ready soon.

I'm curious if the premiums are shipping with a fixed ramp that doesn't gouge the playfield. Has anyone received a premium yet?

I doubt a ramp redesign was implemented. Rather that stern installed the update kit 502-6942-00 onto existing ramps.

Its working well for me, all personal preference. Now that I changed them to red rubbers I got from Titan its great, the whites are a little too thick but these are more like the original black in terms of size and bounce. I see what you mean but I really like it.

My LE came with the bolts for one leg cross-threaded into the cabinet from the factory. And the result was lots of damaged threads. One bolt particularly badly. It seems obvious from this and watching that TWD assembly youtube video that they use a power tool to put these things on. What a PITA to have when trying to assemble your NIB pinball!

Anyway, I didn't ignore it or do any shortcuts. Assembly stopped while I used a tap and tie to fix the threads on the bolts, as well as the nuts in the in the cabinet where the leg attached to. Lots of metal shavings showed me it was worth the time. After that the bolts went on like butter.

I'd advise people to watch for this issue and fix it, rather than further damage the threads without repair.

Also, the left lane of the two lanes at the top where you can get the kill shot at the beginning of the game was getting a ball stuck at the top. Upon close examination the rubber protectors on each side of the lane were holding the ball back from being able to go through. And it turned out that the right side guide was not tightened down and had shifted causing that interference. With that fixed and tightened, the issue is gone.

For members new to firmware updates when you download the code from Stern's website, use FAT32 for the USB flash drive, copy the folder to your harddrive, unzip or extract it onto your hard drive, then go into that extracted folder and copy the file to the USB flash drive, and you are good to go. It won't work if you put the compressed folder on the USB flash drive, or the uncompressed folder.

Here is a good pinball setup video I found for new or hands-off owners.

Does anyone have any issues with the double stack of rubber posts on the left hand side of the bicycle girl ramp also sending the ball sdtm?
A slow moving ball rolls back down the metal guide, hits the rubber posts and bang! SDTM.

I haven't noticed that myself. My experience has been that its more likely that a halfway shot up the right ramp will end up SDTM.

There has been some previous discussion about not having this game dead level from side to side, maybe you could try a little off level either side to see how that works out.

Yes it's inly happening when the ramp is up and while going for the bicycle girl zombie.

How do we get the update kit? Do we have to go through our distributor?

Great question. I'd like to know as well.

And what exactly does the update kit entail? Is it an entirely new ramp and flap?

Just a Pro with topper

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Its just 2 small sticky back foam squares and another plastic for the top of the ramp,nothing to get too excited about.

that sounds like the earlier ramp kit that was sent out a couple of weeks ago along with a spacer. Are you sure this is the new kit? I heard that there was supposed to be a new, longer ramp flap and plastic design.