Need some help with my T-Rex on my JP LE. I will try to explain thoroughly the background and issue at hand.
30 days ago, my LE's T-Rex's mouth magnet was acting up--It was failing to hold the ball. Instead of messing with that existing assembly's specific issue (since replacing that coil + magnet looked daunting), I replaced my entire T-Rex assembly with a brand new assembly (a far later model than my old LE had, basically the "newer" version that newer Prem owners have--but AFAIK the only difference is the head mold). I have Lior's head mold, so I took that off of the old assembly and put it on the new. The head mold is irrelevant to my issues now but worth mentioning. The new assembly install was perfect, no issues whatsoever, no need to make any software or hardware adjustments or anything. Just mounted it and called it a day. It was working like a charm until tonight. Again this was barely 30 days ago, a brand new assembly.
Tonight out of nowhere, the T-rex started jittering during T-Rex MB when thrashing to the left (an issue I know many have faced). In tandem it seemed as if the jaw wasn't closing all the way all the time. I couldn't get it to do the jittering in Horiz or Vert test, only during gameplay BTW. The jaw issue was intermittent in gameplay and in Vert test. My biggest concern was the jittering, not the jaw issue. I figured that something had gone out of alignment physically. So I pulled the assembly off and inspected it thoroughly. Nothing physically stood out. The set screw to the gear was totally tight, nothing else loose or missing hardware wise. The jaw mech seemed just fine. So I put it back on.
Result = same issues and worse. Please continue reading....
I then decided that maybe the motor level bracket was coming loose, giving the assembly the wrong height, stressing the motor or something. So I started looking into adjusting that. As I loosened the nuts that hold that motor bracket, one of the screws came out of the wood entirely. Looking closer, I now saw that the playfield's back wood hole for said screw was completely spread open. I have been unable to reattach the screw that came out of it because of that. I can screw and screw and it just doesn't reattach. I'm unsure if the screw itself broke in half and the other half is embedded in the hole still or what (AFAIK it's impossible to see how these are actually mounted to the wood without removing all kinds of stuff from the other side of the PF wood on the back + the wood panel itself). Plus as you can see from the photos, another one of those motor bracket "holes" where the screw itself has not (yet) come out was also beginning to tear apart. I can only assume that screw is about to fall out too any day now.
I've tried retightening all 3 of the remaining motor mount nuts whose screws have not pulled out, moving the mech up and down via the motor bracket, testing over and over again at each position I'm able to. The original jittering keeps occurring in both gameplay and Horiz test. In fact now the tests are being weird. The Horiz is not finding actual home for example. The test is displaying that its moving to crazy xxx # positions when the t-rex is simply going to expected positions.
My questions:
1. How do I "revive" these wooden hole mounts that are now obviously spread apart? Do I need to order and install an entirely new playfield back wood and possibly purchase new hardware? I am very concerned about the motor hole mounts + that I now only have 3 mounts holding that motor bracket--How sustainable could this be over time even if I get it working again as is? Advice here?
I think that is what started all of the above aka has allowed the T-Rex old or new assemblies to go out of alignment. As you probably know if you've dug into that area, the motor assembly mount is separate from any given T-Rex assembly itself. A new assembly simply connects to that motor mount via the plastic arm.
2. Is the broken screw actually broken or is that the full screw and literally how short it is + it just screws into the wooden hole, relying on that hole itself to keep it there?
3. Does my above description indicate anything wrong with this brand new T-Rex assembly I installed < 30 days ago? If I remove it again, what should I check within the assembly itself?
Below are pics I was able to take of the screw that came out of the wood + the cracked/spread wood holes of the other one that is about to come out any day.
BTW yes you will see that the nuts have been taken completely off in that one pic. I know that's not advised but this was later aka after the one screw had broken off entirely. I had to remove the bracket in order to feebly attempt to get the broken screw back in which I am not able to due to the wood hole being cracked.
broken screw (resized).jpg
screw about to come out (resized).jpg
screw hole that is effed (resized).jpg