Rockola gripper gear reassembly

Juke-rocks · by **Juke-rocks** » Wed Dec 02, 2015 4:26 pm

I'd recently posted issues with my Rockola 459. Turns out, I have yet to master reassembly of the gripper / shaft gears. I've spent some time on this and still haven't gotten it right. I did the same on my 463 last year and got lucky. This one's got me a bit frustrated. The way they're designed they don't just pop on together. The gripper is still in the machine, gears facing the back. Does anyone know how to match up and reassemble the turnover and release gears with the shaft gear?
Patrick

Juke-rocks · by **Juke-rocks** » Fri Dec 04, 2015 7:52 pm

Anybody done this successfully and know how they did it?
Patrick

by **Ron Rich** » Sat Dec 05, 2015 2:02 am

I've done did it--a few times but do not recall how--I belive it's covered in "Dr Know it All's" RockOla book-- available from alwaysjukin.com-- Ron Rich

Juke-rocks · by **Juke-rocks** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 4:53 pm

Ron: I have that book and it's not covered there. Good direction, though. I've sent Harold a note so maybe he will get me going again.
Patrick

Juke-rocks · by **Juke-rocks** » Tue Jan 05, 2016 4:50 pm

All up & running after way too many hours of trial & error. The cause of my initial problem was in the control box, where the reverse relay stuck, overcranking the gripper past it's stop point. At that point, the #1 & #3 Micro switch roller arms were bent badly, and the gripper release gear, cranked too far, slipped off its alignment with the turnover gear on the shaft. Regarding my question in this post about reassembly of the gears, my best advise would be to NEVER take it apart! In this case, the release gear only needed to be turned by hand far enough to retract the spring-loaded inner gripper, then the shaft rotated a tooth or so to realign. No dis-assembly required. I wish I'd know that in November, but that's one way to learn. If the gears are both off, you'd replace the turnover gear, then work the gripper assembly both ways to check position. Trial & error, yes, but there aren't that many different combinations with just that one gear. Then the release gear is replaced with the gripper bow nearly straight up in the air. Again, work the gripper both ways to check for proper alignment. When the gripper if fully retracted over the magazine, the roller on #1 Micro should be in the cam notch. When it's fully retracted over the turntable, the #3 Micro roller will be notched. Along the way I learned that if Micros don't look right, even if they test correctly, they probably won't work. Now I'll have to take a good look at that control box, as I've taken one off a perfectly good 474 to get this 459 going.
Patrick