Rock-Ola 1000 Power supply puzzler

I'm new to this forum, but have read quite a few of the posts, particularly around the RockOla 1000 and 490 series.

I recently got a non-functioning RockOla 1000 and have been slowly going through it. So far all the Power Supply voltage LEDs are on and generate the correct voltages. The S-2 logic board is working (I replaced the battery with a 3.7v cordless phone NiCad, though prior battery leakage caused some damage to the board). All of the front panel functions seem to work fine. The turntable spins when a record is selected (grommets are needed and the idler is rock hard, but that's a different issue). The amplifier is unplugged and the tone switches are broken (someone soldered across a couple of them to permanently set the jukebox to HIGH BASS - ugh!)

So, I am slowly making progress. But now the question:

None of the motors work (e.g. the transfer arm or the record carousel). I was able to isolate the problem back to the power supply, specifically the LM317K 3-terminal regulator that creates the "switched 26V". This is the device on the lower heat sink. So, I ordered a replacement but am uncomfortable with the original RockOla design.

RockOla is feeding 45v into a device that has an "Absolute Maximum" rating of 40v, and a max input-to-output limit of 37v (and when the "switched 26V" is OFF, there will be 42 or 43v across the device. Clearly the engineer was pushing the limits of this device. My plan is to insert a handful ( maybe 8 ) forward biased rectifier diodes in series at the input of the new LM317K to drop the input voltage down to around 37v. The regulator should still work fine and the specifications will be met.

Has anyone else seen this problem and done something similar to protect the LM317?

Thanks, Mark