Photo: Chris1981

(Topic ID: 213488)

Williams Rancho troubles

By Pneuma

6 years ago

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10 posts
3 Pinsiders participating
Latest reply 6 years ago by Runbikeskilee
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Rancho Williams, 1977

#1 6 years ago

JST

I am trying to troubleshoot a few problems I have been having with my 1977 Williams Rancho. When I begin a new game, it usually starts with the yellow lane lights already lit. Sometimes the lights come on when the ball is ejected, and sometimes it goes away when the 2nd player is added, but most of the time they light up at ball eject AND 2nd player credit added. It's rare I can start a two player game without them lit. In trying to fix THAT problem, I have run into a new bonus problem. While the score reels are resetting, the bonus resets fine, starting at 10,000, but when the ball is ejected, it advances the bonus to 20,000. If you fill the bonus up, instead of stopping at 100,000, it keeps going and the bonus lights shut off, as well as the middle lane 10,000 when lit light. I have a feeling it has to do with the bonus unit but can't quite solve the problem If anyone has any ideas where to look, I would truly appreciate the help. Been trying to figure it all out for a few days now. Thank you!

#2 6 years ago

HOW

HowardR

Pinside member

Boulder, CO

7y 78,050 6,262

The bonus problems might be mechanical but the other problems sound electrical. For the electrical problems I'll need to see a high quality scan of the schematic from e.g. Staples ($2) or Kinkos ($6)

#3 6 years ago

JST

Pneuma

Pinside member

9y 56,400 196 1

Yellow lane lit problem solved! Some gunk cleaning and switch adjusting fixed that up. Plus the R A N C H O/double bonus/green/yellow relay switch bracket attached to the playfield was VERY loose so that might have also been a contributing factor. Still can't figure out my bonus problem. Again, it resets fine to 10,000 but advances to 20,000 on ball eject. I think it is bonus unit related but am still learning my way through EM's. Anyone have any ideas?

#4 6 years ago

LSW

Runbikeskilee

Pinside member

8y 43,150 722 10

I am not familiar with the Rancho, but possibly, was the bonus intended to reset to 0 points and then step up to 10,000 when the ball is released to the plunger lane? If so, a possible culprit might be mis-allignment of the spider arms wrt the electrical contacts, such that the machine is resetting to 10,000 and then stepping up to 20,000 ?

If so, the position of the spider arms at max bonus value may be beyond the range of electrical contacts on the board and thus showing no bonus.

I will try and take a look at the bonus units on my GP and EM Hot Tip today, to see if I can discern how they operate.

#5 6 years ago

LSW

Runbikeskilee

Pinside member

8y 43,150 722 10

I inspected the bonus stepper on Hot Tip and Grand Prix. They were a little different, but both basically had spider arms and a circular array of 11 brass contacts. When the bonus counts down, the spider arm goes back to the first brass contact. When the ball gets ejected to the shooter lane, the spider arm moves up to the 2nd brass contact. When the bonus stepper reaches maximum bonus, the spider arm is resting on the 11th (and last) brass contact.

Can you check your bonus unit to see if it functions similarly and that the board is not misaligned such that the spider arm might be resetting to the 2nd brass contact and stepping up to the 3rd contact when the ball ejects to the shooter lane?

#6 6 years ago

JST

Pneuma

Pinside member

9y 56,400 196 1

Hey, Runbikeskilee... What you described with the bonus unit is EXACTLY what is happening! The game resets to the 2nd brass contact and steps up to the the 3rd contact when the ball ejects! Also goes one step past the max bonus and stops. Now... how do I wind it back to the 1st contact to make it right again? I've never had it apart and it doesn't just rotate back one step. I certainly don't want to force it back and cause damage. I can wind it the other way until it won't go any further but it just resets down to the same 2nd contact again. I truly appreciate your help with this and look forward to any reply on how to remedy this situation.

#7 6 years ago

JST

Pneuma

Pinside member

9y 56,400 196 1

Just played a few games. Everything is still scoring as it should so I think Runbikeskilee has diagnosed the culprit. Don't understand how it got this way as this is a new problem and it was fine before. I'm sure I did SOMETHING! heh heh. Now i'm just trying to figure out how to get it back to normal...

#8 6 years ago

LSW

Runbikeskilee

Pinside member

8y 43,150 722 10

Without going back down and opening up one of my Williams EMs, I hazily recall that you will need to raise the playfield and then manually operate the plunger of the bonus reset coil until it steps back down as far as it will go. If the spider arm(s) does appear to be resting on the 2nd brass contact, then the usual way (provided nothing is bent or broken with the mechanism) was to loosen a couple fasteners on the rectangular board with the brass contacts and then actually rotate the board itself until the first contact is aligned with the spider arm. See if that makes sense?

Lee

#9 6 years ago

JST

Pneuma

Pinside member

9y 56,400 196 1

FIXED! Rotated the board itself back to the first contact and all is well again. Thanks, Lee!

#10 6 years ago

LSW

Runbikeskilee

Pinside member

8y 43,150 722 10

Cool! Now you're an expert on adjusting late-70's Williams bonus steppers. Next, you need to go play some test games. LOL.

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