Can anyone help me with the year of this Triple Bar Machine

[danatlvc]

Hello all,

I have this Bally Triple Bar Nickel 5 coin Machine. I'm pretty sure it's early to mid 70's, but don't really know.

Side Tag is stamped
809-7ZC
ME-15108

Thanks

[Neonkiss]

OH...You were so close to reading the date of manufacture yourself   

Go back to the data tag where you just got all that info and look at the very top in the black area.
There you will find the year and month of manufacture. Get a flashlight if you need one.

Or in my case a magnifiying glass. 

[danatlvc]

AWESOME - Thank You So Much. Ive been staring at that tag for days. It's 1976

This machine plays great, but doesn't pay for a single cherry ever & sometimes pays 5 coins for 2 bars & a fruit? Any trick known to set it to pay correct. I figure it has someting to do with the reels in the upper part behind the award glass maybe? Don't know

Thanks Again
Dan

[OldReno]

I'm guessing 1976.  Oh, wait, I cheated and read post #3.
It is highly unlikely your problem is in the top unit.  It's probably a hopper board contact, or reel wiper problem.
Jiggle the reels with the pay up, and also tug on your hopper board carriage (the thing in the front left of your payboard). That should get you started.
Great machine, BTW.

[danatlvc]

Thanks for the great info. I'll try those suggestions
Dan

[StatFreak]

I was going to offer a suggestion but you couldn't be in better hands than OldReno. That is a cool machine. Thanks for posting the picture. K+ all around.


Stat

[rdaniel]

If that was the machine which was advertised in Phoenix Craigslist for $140, you got a real bargain. I am jealous!

[OldReno]

The little wheels in your top unit are your X-units.  They only work when you play 2, 3, 4, or 5 coins and get a pay.  You can watch them in action if you remove the 4 screws from your light-panel board and drop it down.  Kinda cool, trips me out.
Thanks to StatFreak for kind words, however there are a few others here who are better mentors than me....
Fools rush in where others fear to tread. Ha.

[danatlvc]

Yes, this is the one from Phoenix/Gilbert Craigslist
I was expecting a clean machine as advertised, but it had a broken handle mechanism & the coin tray was bent bad, cracked & broken.
It also had not been played in many years & the reels did not stop when I finally got it up & running.
I paid $100 due to the bad shape it was in. The coin acceptor & mechanism below were also damaged.
This machine was really dirty with old hard petrified nicotine throughout.
 
The cabinet glass & chrome were Excellent though with one small dent to the front panel below the reel glass
It cleaned up really nice though with over a weeks worth of work & then getting the parts.
I purchased it to clean up & sell, but it's a now a Keeper as I've become very attached to it & find it very cool :-)
I'm now have great interested in these old electromechanical machines & how they work etc.
This is my first electromechanical machine & I went into it blind, as I'm not familiar with then at all

If I can ever get it to pay correctly someday with the single Cherry etc. it would be a MAJOR PLUS. When it hits a single Cherry etc. the hopper makes no sound & the front light to insert coin comes on & the coin acceptor stop pin goes back in?

Thanks All & Really I Appreciate All & Any information I have received & that I can get with these Cool electromechanical machines & how they work etc.
Regards,
Dan

[Amachanic]

I've had a couple of these older Ballys that sometime didn't alway pay. I found that its a combination of things. It can be that your wipes board and contacts could need to be cleaned or you could have a worn out contact. The other most common problem is with the Beau plugs behind the hopper and reels tarnish and don't conduct electricity. Sometime just sliding the hopper and reels in and out a few times will fix the problem, but what worked best for me was a small tooth brush size wire brush on the pins, then spray a little WD-40 on the cabinet plugs. Slide them together a few times and see if it helps? Wipe up and excess WD-40, but I've had this help me correct many machine problems due to beau plug problems.

Gary

[danatlvc]

Thanks All ,
I tried everything suggested & it started to pay on the single cherry & I was sooo Happy & then it stopped :-(
I cleaned the complete hopper, wiper board & all the contacts, wiggled wires & put WD40 on the plug as suggested & got it going on the single Cherry. It's definitely in the hopper somewhere or the plug or behind it. I cleaned it again & did all the other things with no luck. I don't want to over do it, as I've done with other machines in the past & make it worse. Been there a few times with IGT poker machines. Live I learn I do, but the hard way a lot of the time :-)
Open to any other suggestions & Thanks again

[OldReno]

Is your payboard fully resetting after each new game? Does winner paid light stay on?
Are the cherry fingers too far back off the board?  Cherry is the bottom finger.   Does the 2 pay segment have a pit in it?  Does the finger have enough tension? You're probably real close....

[danatlvc]

I will check all of those

On a pay the winner paid light does stay on until you pull the handle for the next spin
On a single Cherry no light comes on & the pin the goes through the acceptor pulls out
It paid 3 or 4 times & then it stopped I pulled the hopper out & in a few times & it paid the single cherry, but only that one time & the last time so far

I ginned from ear to ear when it paid on that first cherry & was a thrill short lived ... lol

Thanks & Appreciate it