(Topic ID: 61494)

WTB Return Lane Guides from Data East/Stern:

By FirebrandX

10 years ago



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  • 8 posts
  • 3 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 10 years ago by FirebrandX
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#1 10 years ago

I figure I might as well give it a shot here since all the online places are out of stock, but I'm looking to snag a couple each of new lane guides from the Data East/Stern line. Reference numbers:

550-5037-01
550-5042-01
550-5046-01

Preferably clear, but I'll take blue as well

Here's a picture of the 550-5037-01: returnlane.jpgreturnlane.jpg

#2 10 years ago

I contacted Stern directly, and they still have 550-5037-01 in stock for distributors, so I'm contacting all the major parts dealers to let them know. Hopefully one of them will take the opportunity to restock so I can buy some.

#3 10 years ago

2nd update:

Marco Specialties was the first to respond and said they will put in an order to restock and should have them in 2 weeks.

This is how you get things done on the internet. Start contacting people and get things rolling!

Anyway, the lower lane guides (5042 and 5046) are completely unavailable, so I'm going to order a bunch of the 5037's when they arrive at Marco and modify a couple of them into the the shape of the 5042's and 5046's. They are nearly identical to begin with, so it will only require some sawing of the posts as far as I can tell.

#4 10 years ago

Contact Terry at Pinball Life. If Stern stocks it he can get it. I just had him order me a whole $6.50 worth of parts for my SM. Not sure it was worth his time but he did get me what I needed.

#5 10 years ago

Yeah I just heard back from Terry. He got confused and thought I meant a different kind of lane guide. He's offering me a good deal on the four he has left in stock not listed on his site, though now he knows he can order more from Stern.

#6 10 years ago

I have two green return lanes from a TMNT.

#7 10 years ago

Got my return lanes in from Terry. I hadn't noticed from the stock photo before, but the outline of the lane guide has since changed over the years, even though the part number remains the same. It's nothing that affects gameplay, but it obviously is not accurate to the original piece. You can see in the pictures that the "dip" shape on the corners have been rounded off. Also in the pics you can see the return lane guide they no longer make is merely the same design with one side of the posts flush instead of protruding. The means modifying the extra pair of 5037s will be a simple task of sawing off the protruding posts to be flush with the guide, and then dremel-polishing them if needed. That's very good news for those needing a complete set of upper and lower guides.

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#8 10 years ago

As I hoped, modifying the second pair by sawing off the posts with an X-acto saw ended up being easy and took only ten minutes for the set. I've got all 4 new lane guides installed, and attached is a pic of the left side (my apologies for the blurriness as I took the picture through the glass cover).

bullwinklereturnlane03.jpgbullwinklereturnlane03.jpg

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