I just inherited a Pace Bantam Jak-Pot that wasn’t paying out consistently (with no movement of the payout slides in those cases). I realized this is happening because, while holding the 2nd reel still, the 2nd disk can still rotate forward and backward about an inch total. After removing the reel assembly, I confirmed that disk 2 can rotate enough that the payout holes don’t always line up with the holes in disk 1 and 3. After that inch or so of travel, it won't rotate any farther, so it's not totally loose.
The 2nd disk also wobbles side to side, enough that it can almost come in contact with the disks 1 and 3. When I look down between the disks when I rotate disk 2 while holding reel 2 still, I can see that the disk is attached solidly to its coupling (or whatever it's called), because they move together as one unit. Is the metal axle tube possibly loose in the disk's coupling? I was hoping maybe the reel clamp just needs to be tightened, but I don’t think that would explain the side-to-side disk wobble. Any ideas what’s going on here? And is it something fairly easy to repair if I can get the assembly apart, or is this something that only a pro should handle? I had pics but got an error message when trying to upload them.