Newbie here! Transporting a Rock Ola 470 safely.

Did a cursory search on the boards and have been poking around KLOV and whatnot... I'm a pinball guy, have had a few arcade games too. I'm pretty electronically inclined with some small mechanical experience, and I have a pretty big tool set from working on pinballs. My wife and I are going to look at a Rock Ola 470 tomorrow and I don't want to cause any issues in the process of moving it.

Most of our pins are right around the 300lb mark, and we don't have to deal with any "stairs" per se, just 3 steps. We can move them just fine ourselves...I understand this juke to be 350-375 lbs so I think we can handle it. I also have a modified Harbor Freight hydraulic lift cart and a standard big wheel moving dolly that I could utilize to move this thing. The worst part of it is getting it loaded in the first place, then getting it up those three steps and the ~50 yards down a sidewalk to our front door.

If anyone cares to make some suggestions as to what precautions/tools we need to take to get it moved safely, assuming we purchase it, I'd greatly appreciate it. The guy says he has manuals and all documentation, but better to be prepared than blind IMO!

The changer mech is floating on springs.there is a way to tighten the mech down on the springs so it does not bounce around. do that and secure the tone arm so it can not move.be sure nothing is loose in the cabinet(covers etc) Do NOT lay the juke on it's back (big no-no) be sure lid is secure. lock it if possible. Just be careful of the glass on the front. cover in shipping blankets if possible. good luck

Hi
I would also remove the turntable and any florescent tubes
clones

Alright. We have plenty of moving blankets. We take our pins out to shows and "on the road" quite a bit so used to dealing with moving blankets and straps. Just found out I'll have an extra set of hands tomorrow as well so less issues overall with the actual moving part.

We're going to have a truck, so wasn't planning on laying it on it's back anyways. It's about a 30 mile drive from where it's at to our house, but it should be 95% freeway.

As much as I respect copyright law, sometimes it makes stuff like this a real PITA when you're buying something "on the fly" as it were and the only way to get the information is to buy a paper manual because PDF copies can't be distributed. Gottlieb pinball manuals are the same way. They're hardcore about protecting that copyright, while Williams will let pretty much anything be uploaded. Would be great to have the manual ahead of time so I can know specifically what I'll need to be doing, but wasn't sure which model we would end up buying.

Sent you a PM, but forgot to tell you to remove ALL records.

Welcome to jukes! I am a pinball guy, too, and think i!I recall seeing you on Pinside, yes? I just picked up a Seeburg Hf100r. First one.

Yeah. Same person same name. I post a lot over there. Currently own 5 pins and two pachinko games.

Only five? Geesh

Frax,

Did you buy the 470? Give us an update and tell us all about it, including your thoughts on moving it.

I bought it..it is NOT working. Coin mech is too gunked up to get a quarter through it, I can take that apart and clean it. I hear clicks when I depress the credit switches so the relay is firing, same thing when the service credit switch is used. The juke won't allow you to make any selections, I don't even know if any of the lights in the selection matrix even work, I'm going to test those and see if they're all fried or not.

The biggest issue right now however seems to be that while the selection buttons did nothing, manually flipping a selection switch did. Issue is, once it tried to start playing that record, the gear that moves the gripper arm was completely bound up. It tripped the circuit breaker. Fine. I got the gear/shaft loose, but apparently before the breaker tripped, it has apparently warped the mount for the small motor and now the motor gear doesn't interlock correctly with the gripper arm mech's gear and they just slide off each other. I'm afraid to keep trying to do much of anything with it for fear of causing damage to the gear teeth, and I have no idea how to fix the alignment issue so that the gears aren't slipping. I think once I figure out how to resolve this specific issue, it will at least PLAY a record, even though the selector buttons aren't doing a dang thing.

As it stands, this juke is a total project. I have no clue if the amp works. The speakers hum, and I can't test a bloody thing. Wonderful. Well, this is how I got into pinball, obviously it was destiny that my first juke be a project as well. Let the learning begin. I'll try to upload a video to Youtube later on and maybe someone can give me some sage advice as to how to proceed.

The upside is that it came with a pretty big selection of 45's...and it's spread out genre wise... Beatles, christmas music, U2, Dolly PArton, Monkees, Aretha, Bing crosby, eric clapton., mariah carey...goes on and on and on. Someone definitely wanted a big mix, and he had probably another 100+ in a box on the side that I haven't even looked at. I have a service manual and a parts manual, both of which are in what I call mint condition, but no normal operation manual so I guess I'll need to track that down. But I have schematics-r-us.

It's a mixed bag. I know I overpaid, because it's the one my wife wanted, and for the records. I have no doubt that if I parted it out I could easily make my money back, but I've only ever parted out one pinball/arcade machine before...I absolutely refuse to do it unless there is no other way.

WOW! Sounds like a lot of work. From what you have described I don't think any of the precautions for moving were really necessary.

Have made some progress already. I was able to at least get it into "playing" mode for a few minutes, so I can at least confirm the amplifier, turn table, and tone arm work, but it's really clear the whole thing needs to be disassembled and cleaned very badly. There is a LOT of slow movement, binding, etc....I have to help it a LOT to get it to load/unload a record... but if I ever manage to get it to the point it can load a record on it's own it sounds alright...nothing stellar, but it has a manageable volume to it and not distorted. We live in a small condo so I am pretty happy with the volume and tone of it, so there is that.

I'm uploading video now to youtube showing the gear issue for the gripper arm and gears. I highly suspect at this point all issues except the selector buttons are mechanical in nature, and not electrical...this thing is just gummed up all to hell and back and I need a few days to photograph and document the teardown process. Then disassemble, clean, and re-assemble everything. If that doesn't fix it...well...uh....I'll go from there I suppose. Already looked into local repair and seems to be at least one guy with good references locally.

This whole thing would be stupid easy if I could just lift the entire turntable assembly out of the cabinet, frankly. My biggest issue working on anything so far has been access to the screws on the underside! =P

Frax

Is a complete tare-down really necessary?

When a machine is as bad as you have described I usually soak everything with a degreaser/penetrating oil, let it soak overnight if required, then wipe everything off with a rag and re-oil with the correct oil (SAE 20W ND Motor Oil).
I think a full tare-down could give you more problems, but it's your call.

The only part I have ever had to remove for cleaning on that model of jukebox is the Write-In motor, it can be impossible to free it up while in place.

Guy's,
IMHO--all three "motors" need to be removed--brushes checked/replaced ( on DC motors), and re-lubed. Do not "forget" front bearing "oil felt", on some "gripper motors" !! Do NOTHING to the AC, write-in motor, other than oiling the armature shaft ends, on it !! Also, gripper MUST be re-lubed --torn down ONLY, if, some "Geppeto" has put something other then "graphite grease" into it----Ron Rich