Presentation and restoration of a Bally 988-29 Deluxe Progressive

[Nurbo]

Hi,

Here is my latest acquisition, a Bally 988 Deluxe Progressive (1974).

Stored for 4 years, all the grease seems to be quite hard. The fluorescent tubes light up (at the vendor). The reels turn if I activate the unlocking of the arm by hand, for the rest I have not yet tested. I am waiting to be able to do the checks before plugging it in, because after transport there may be tokens that slip behind the power supply.

To be continued... 

[wolftalk]

is 988 the full model number (top number on the serial plate below the handle) ... or is it a 988-2?

[Nurbo]

You're right Wolftalk, I forgot to specify, it's a 988-29 !

[Nurbo]

Hello,

Stored for 4 years, all the grease seems to be quite hard. The fluorescent tubes light up (at the vendor). The reels turn if I activate the unlocking of the arm, for the rest I have not yet tested. I am waiting to be able to do the checks before plugging it in, because after transport there may be tokens that slip behind the power supply.

And I also found a token behind the power supply…

[Nurbo]

Here is a little more detailed tour of this machine 

I don't know what the terminal block behind the reels is for. Several wires come from below, but they are not connected to each other, except for 2 (photo 07)

On photo 09, top left, the black thing is a switch, it's the first time I've seen one on an electromechanical reelmachine.
But this 988 is also the "youngest" in my collection

Photo 10, the size of the connector on the hopper is impressive!!!!
It's also the first time I've had a hopper with the motor under the token bowl.

[Nurbo]

Overall I did not find anything like big modification

[wolftalk]

70 pin beau plug on the hopper ... didn't know they made one.

I guess that would give you a lot of spare pins to use if one is damaged ... like the upper big round pin appears to be in the socket.

[Nurbo]

Hello,

For the first works I started with the progressive counting unit.

I cleaned the plastic reels. Damp cloth, pressing very lightly as the inscriptions may be erased.
I noticed that there are a few reels that don't spin very well, as if there was grease. I will have to take them apart and clean them. I wouldn't touch those that run smoothly.

1 cent reel malfunction : https://youtu.be/wSFVAZcp5hY

At the bottom there are the 2 counting units.
On photo 17, on the left, it is the LINE UNIT which operates in 2 steps. On the right there is no longer the label but according to the diagram it is the JACKPOT TOTAL STEP-UP DISC.
On the white toothed wheel there is no spring, but it seems to me that this is normal on this unit, can someone confirm it for me.

[wolftalk]

1 cent reel malfunction : https://youtu.be/wSFVAZcp5hY

if the problem is when the 9 appears, usually the issue is the carry-over switch ... the one that closes when the reel is at 9 so on the next step the adjacent reel also increments.

the goal of the switch adjust is to minimize the stalling at the 9.  You often need to adjust both the moving and stationary blades.  Fortunately, it's a lot more forgiving than a gottlieb pinball reel :-)

could also just be crud on the contact plate.

operating the step-up manually can exaggerate the problem a little, though the way you are doing it is less likely to be a problem.  See if it works ok when the game does it, and if it's still sluggish, then you can have fun taking the reel apart.  It's just a bally pinball score reel, so lots of youtube videos on ways to do it.

 
At the bottom there are the 2 counting units.
On photo 17, on the left, it is the LINE UNIT which operates in 2 steps. On the right there is no longer the label but according to the diagram it is the JACKPOT TOTAL STEP-UP DISC.
On the white toothed wheel there is no spring, but it seems to me that this is normal on this unit, can someone confirm it for me.

yup.  Stepping units with no reset solenoids are "continuous steppers".  Since they never reset, no torsion spring is needed.  If ya added one, the unit would step until the torsion spring was so tight it couldn't step anymore.