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Suddenly the arm on our Jennings Standard Chief is loose and does not engage the spinning mechanism after a coin is inserted. We looked inside and there does not appear to be a coin jam. Worked fine yesterday. What mechanism should we be looking at?

Hello,
When you say that the handle is loose and there doesn't seem to be a jam, Does the escalator move the coin to the right and the reels don't spin? This would happen if you turned the machine "Off" and into a load coin only cycle. One thing to do, Look at the back of the mech around the lower left hand side. There is a vertical tab with "pull" stamped into it. Make sure it is pushed in. Leaving this tab out will allow you to put a coin in, and pull the handle. the coins will fill the tube/jackpot, but will not allow the machine to cycle.

another possibility is that the machine did not reset and the mech is still in the "down" position.

hope that helps,
Charlie

Hello,

This happens the odd time with my Jennings. I think it is what Charlie said. The mechanism is stuck in the down position, you would have to pull the Mech out and manually finish the cycle with a screw driver and it should reset. don't force it if it doesn't want to go. , Dave has a good video on YOU TUBE on how to do this. There is a release dog you need to flip to release it if it is jammed. If you can't find the video I can send the link.
Darrell

thanks Charlie! We will check that out.

We just checked the tab and it was in the right position, not pulled out. Our machine is mechanical only, so dont know about turning it on or off. We will check out the video. The arm just swings loose and doesn't start the reels.

If you do find that the machine is still in the down position, Check to see where the "release" is on the timing bar. On the handle side of the machine toward the lower back, you will see a bar that is pushed up when the handle is pulled. There is a bolt above it. This bolt can be loosened and the timing bar moved back (toward the back of the machine). Only move it a hair and then tighten down the bolt and try it. If you find that the machine plays, but the reels do not spin, then you went too far and the machine is cycling too early. Do not move it too far forward, if you move it beyond the "let off" point, you will have to "unwind" the machine.

Sorry about the "on/off" refference. I was refering to the mechanical ability of the mechanism to fully cycle the machine or to just load coins. If it's in, that is the correct position for the machine to function fully.

If the "handle is loose" and doesn't engage, could be that the handle nut has loosened such that the starter is not moving when you pull the handle. If so, that's an easy fix. First, remove the mechanism. The starter is inside on the handle side--position the handle in the normal position and move the starter counterclockwise until the holes lines up with the handle dogs and tighten the nut.

Any luck yet?

not yet. Handle starter looked ok, now we have to see if its in the mechanism and we really need a schematic...